


When he broke: Story of revenge

by cisco_centric_4ever



Series: When he broke [4]
Category: Bleach, Naruto, Soul Eater
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements, Revenge, Seme Uzumaki Naruto, Uke harem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 119,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21681775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cisco_centric_4ever/pseuds/cisco_centric_4ever
Summary: Naruto is tired of being mistreated and forgotten. One day he makes one last effort to get his family's attention, but it doesn't work. In fact, it goes horribly wrong, making him end up in a place close to hell. Now he's at the end of his rope and he wants revenge on all those who had tormented him in the end. He makes allies, gets stronger, and plans. He lays in wait until the right time to strike, all the while, the people of the village keeps trying to push his buttons. Especially his twin sister. One incident after his first official mission outside the village sets him off and he puts his plans into motion.Will Konoha be able to survive after this?Or have they finally met their match?
Relationships: Gaara/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata/Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: When he broke [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/870159
Comments: 64
Kudos: 131





	1. How it started

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of a story that I have already written. I wanted to start it over to make it more readable than the original.

It was the dreaded Kyuubi attack. Minato and Kushina had already welcomed a new addition to their family, but to their surprise, their new addition happened to be twins. A boy and a girl. They named the girl Iko, and the boy was named Naruto. On the night that the Kyuubi attacked, Kushina had just given birth when a masked man appeared out of nowhere and kidnapped Naruto by using paper bombs to distract and divide the couple's attention between the two babies. With this, the masked man kidnapped Kushina and forced the Kyuubi out of its seal and used the monster to cause chaos and destruction amongst the village. When Minato was able to get back to his wife, he found out that Kyuubi had already been released, since he had no other choice, he brought his wife and daughter back to safety before he set off to fight the fox. However, Kushina stopped him, already knowing what her husband planned to do, she suggested an alternative to his plan that would save both their lives. Seeing as how a jinchuriki needed to have something to contain in order for their life not to end abruptly, the fate of the two newborns were set. After going over the plan, Minato agreed and brought Kushina, Iko, and Naruto to the field with him to set everything up. Minato told Hiruzen, the former Hokage, to help keep the Kyuubi away from them until everything was ready, the ninjas gathered around them at the time gave their support and left to fight the beast. Minato honored their many sacrifices and quickly prepared the alter to recapture the Kyuubi. Using Kushina's chakra chains, the fox was held still long enough to complete the ritual. They split the fox into three-part. Yin, Yang, and the soul. Seeing how the soul would be the weakest, they decided to give it to Kushina so she could continue living, but something went wrong and Naruto ended up getting the soul instead. 

Once the fox was taken care of, Minato was hailed as a hero and his wife and children were saviors. However, sometime during the past months after the attack, someone let it leak that Naruto had the soul of the Kyuubi while his mother and sister had the yin and yan halves. This brought about many troubles for the little boy, his development was slowed and he got mistreated by the villagers, unlike his sister, who got treated like a queen. Naruto faced many hardships early on during his life, but he didn't allow what the villagers say to get him down. He kept trying to prove himself worthy of the love and acceptance of others. He learned of frustrations very early in his life, but still, he tried. A year after the rumor started, when Naruto was only one, he started to notice a difference in how his parents treated him apposed to his sister. She was given everything she ever asked for, while he did not. Even though he was so young, Naruto understood how unfair his treatment was, however, he would not give up on trying to earn a place in his parent's heart. 

* * *

_October 10 *4 year time skip*_

Naruto was now five and he was done trying to win over his parent's love from his sister. They had just shown just how much they actually loved him as a son, let alone appreciated him as a human being. Right now he was walking through the back alley of the worst place to be for a five-year-old: The Red Light District. The reason he was in such a place was because of his last-ditch efforts to get his parents to at least worry about him. Or more reasonably, get them to show that they at least cared.

**Flashback**

_Naruto was in his room reading when he heard the front door to the house slam shut and lock in place. He couldn't say that he was too surprised by that sound, he was used to hearing it whenever his parents went out to treat his sister to wherever she wanted while leaving him at home. He rushed over to his window to see the happy family walking down the sidewalk with a happy five-year-old in tow. His sister, Iko, was as happy as can be, she got everything, all the toys, the attention, love, everything. He was getting really tired of hoping for scraps, so he was going to make sure that they noticed him this time. It was his birthday too, after all, and the only person that got anything today was Iko. Some times he wondered if he was somehow a ghost that no one else could see, but his treatment whenever he stepped outside stated otherwise, so why? Getting tired of asking himself pointless questions, Naruto set off with his plan to fake his own death. A little extreme, but how else was he going to get his parents to take notice to him? Besides, they say that you don't know what you're missing until it's gone, so using his five-year-old logic, Naruto dressed up as a corpse using some of his mother's makeup. Next, he went downstairs to set the scene, he was hoping for a bit of a scream and panic when they reentered the house and saw his body just laying there lifeless like this. Of course, he made sure that all the fake blood he made wasn't something that could stain the carpest, instead if you just applied some soap and water, it would come off pretty easy. With everything in place, Naruto sat down on the floor to wait for the sound of the door opening. After about two hours of waiting, he heard that faithful click and the sound of joyful chatter entering the house._

_Showtime._

_Naruto laid down in the puddle of blood and controlled his breathing to make it seem like he wasn't breathing at all. It was a tricky move to pull off, but he had practiced it for months to the point that one of the housekeepers that sometimes came to the house actually thought he was dead. She had gone to tell his father afterward but to his knowledge, his father never came to check on him to see if he was okay or not. Really, what a rotten guy. Anyway, Naruto's wait was just about over when he heard,_ _"AAAAAHHHHHH" coming from the living room entryway. There were rushed footsteps that came rushing to the source, Iko's scream was very ear piercing and hard to ignore, but Naruto's heard her scream for less serious things like not having ketchup for her chilly fries._

_"Iko? Iko, what's the matter," came the sound of the worried father as he dashed into the room. He noticed all the fake blood on the floor, being a man at his level who was strong enough to become a kage, well, if he didn't notice, he would not be worth his salt. Blood side, the scene did look terrifying to the eye at first glance, that's probably why his daughter let out such a scream. However, he took not of something else besides the blood, it was small, blond, and covered in blood. He figured that his son was playing a prank on them right away. He didn't find it very funny in the least. Kushina was trying to calm their daughter down, even though this was a prank, it seemed that Iko couldn't tell the difference and had started to cry. This made Minato very unhappy, "Kushina, take Iko into the kitchen for some ice cream, I'll clean this up."_

_"Alright," Kushina nodded and picked up her daughter so they could go to the kitchen. On her way out of the room, she turned back to the scene one more time, "Minato, throw out that carpet, I don't want Iko to get traumatized by seeing it. We can buy another one later."_

_"Right, I'll do that," Minato stated as he watched his wife and crying daughter leave the room._

_In Naruto's mind, he was thinking that something was missing. There was something wrong with this picture He thought his father would come over and shout at him. Cry over him. Something instead of just walking over to his body and rolling it up in the carpet of fake blood. He thought that enough was enough and that he should say something to his father before things go too father, but at that moment, the words were caught in his throat and he could make a sound. He waited until after his father left the house to say something, "hey! What are you doing? I'm alive, dad!" But he didn't get a response, he tried again, "hey! I said I'm alive!" He shouted a bit louder but still got nothing in reply. There was a sick feeling in his stomach as his father made his way down the street and turned many corners. Naruto could do nothing but let himself be carried off into the distance to an unknown location. He wanted to fight to get out of his hold, but his five-year-old body was much too week for that._

**Flashback end**

By the time Minato had dropped him off, Naruto had already given up. All his hope of having someone care for him was thrown in the trash, which happened to be where he was left. He didn't know this part of the village, he was never taken out to play with other kids like his sister, mainly because of nobody wanting to play with him. He had the sneaking suspicion that was because Iko told them that she wouldn't like anyone that played with him. Iko was a very selfish child in Naruto's eyes, she got everything she wanted from her parents and most of the villagers treated her like she could do no wrong, so it was expected that she would turn out this way, right? As Naruto climbed out of the piles of trash, he let a few tears fall from his eyes as he looked around at his dark surroundings. He didn't know which way was home, he never left the house enough to have the skills to navigate the streets, so he was at a loss, this is where is wondering began. The night was getting colder because of the winter seasons, he didn't put on a jacket because he thought that he was still going to be at home, safe in his room around this time. He thought that his joke would just be seen as such and he would get a scolding or something. He felt foolish for even trying a stunt like this and wanted nothing more than to turn back the clock so that he was still at come and could forget about trying to win his parent's affections. It was pointless, Iko had both of them wrapped around her finger and there was nothing he could do about it. She was like a witch that cast a spell on the village when she was just born, he felt this strongly before, but it was a stronger feeling now. 

As Naruto continued his walk, he bumped into someone's leg. He was going to say sorry, but the person grabbed him roughly by his arm and held him up as if he was a fish or something. "Hey guys, look what I gound, something fun we can play with!" The man holding up Naruto was clearly drunk and wasn't thinking straight, or maybe he was and was simply playing around. Naruto could only hope.

The other guys with the man chuckled, "hm, looks like someone already beat up to it. I wonder what they did to it to get so much blood on him," one guy with green eyes smirked.

"Who knows, but I say we take him back to the hotel for a good time," stated the man holding Naruto.

The men started walking down the street towards a nearby motel. The sign was bright enough to read 'Barbie' in bright, cursive neon letters. They entered the hotel and one of the guys went up to the counter to talk to the owner. He pointed back to his buddies, the one holding Naruto held him up for the guy behind the counter to see the struggling blond. He gave the group a thumbs up and a key, "make sure you don't dirty up the room too much, boys, I would hate to have the walls stained with his blood. But then again, some other customers might get off on that kind of thing, so try to keep the blood down to a minimum if you can." He handed over the key, "if you need anything, just give me a call and I'll deliver it.

"Sure thing, you can bring up some drinks and some 'Happy Pills' whenever you get the chance." The man walked away with the key and motioned for the group to follow him.

Once in the room, the men threw Naruto down on the bed and made sure that the door was locked. "Let's have some fun!" 

"Yeah!" The group cheered as they turned towards the blond on the bed. Naruto wasn't sure what they were planning to do to him, but he knew it couldn't be good. There were six of them in total, all were ninjas from the way they were dressed, so Naruto knew that if he even if he did manage to get away, he wouldn't make it far. One guy ripped his clothes off of him while the others started to get undressed. One guy held him in place while another shoved his dick down his throat when Naruto tried to scream for help. Even if it was just one person that was passing by, he wanted someone to know that he needed help. He didn't think that anyone would be in too much of a rush to get him out of this situation, but he wanted to try anyway, but with his throat blocked, he couldn't manage to scream. The man thrust himself into the blond's throat mercilessly, the man behind him held him tight enough to leave bruises, but it was a reminder that he was going to get away from this. While his mouth was being stuffed, the guy behind him was getting restless. The man sat down and spread Naruto's cheeks and alined his dick to the virgin hole, Naruto felt the object press into him and he struggled to get away, but the hand that was holding him still would not let go. Suddenly the object forced its way into Naruto's body, the boy let out a pain-filled scream that was blocked out by the dick in his mouth, he felt like was suffocating. He was in pain and he couldn't breathe, he wondered if this was how he was going to die when the dick in his mouth finally pulled out, with its exit, Naruto threw up. The man behind him started to laugh as he pulled out and thrust back into the blond violently, "this is going to be a fun night," the man behind Naruto stated as he continued he thrusting. The other men in the group laughed in agreement as they took turns with the blond as he cried out for help.

* * *

_The next morning_

Naruto lay on the bed with tears rolling down his eyes, he was covered in white fluids from the men's fun. His body felt too weak to move, and his mind felt numb. At some point during the night, he fell unconscious, but that didn't seem to stop their fun. When he woke up, he faintly registered that he was still connected to one of the men that brought him to the room that night. He was sure that he wasn't going to be able to walk well, but he wanted more than anything to leave this place. **"Get up boy, I will make sure that you can walk, just leave this place, the sight of these fools make me sick."** Naruto was too tired to move or be startled, but he also wanted to leave, so he listened. He forced his limbs to move and tried to extract himself from the man's member. Once he was free, Naruto crawled away from the man, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. He moved over to the door and grabbed a shirt that was discarded by one of the men that night. He pulled the shirt on as he wanted to cover himself, he felt disgusting and wanted to wash quickly, but not here. With what little strength he gained just now, he used to open the door and run outside, it looked like all the ninjas in the room were still too hungover to go chasing after him, so he was free to leave. They already had their fun with him, so he just left the room. He hated that he couldn't get away sooner, why did he have to go through all of that? Why couldn't he be stronger to get away on his own? He wanted to know why he couldn't be stronger, but of course, he already knew the answer to that. He was not meant to be strong, or so the villagers told him. He remembered that he was in the red light district, he needed to get out of there quickly. He made his way down the hallway of the motel and found the back door, he checked to see if anyone was around and left when it was clear. He managed to somehow make it out of there on his own but he wasn't sure how to get back home. **"Would you really want to go back home?"**

_"I guess not, but still, where else can I go?"_ Naruto thought to himself, _"by the way, who are you?'_

**"I am the Kyuubi."**

_"Kyuubi? So you're the one everyone's been mistaking me for? Why'd you help me?"_

**"Like I said, it was tired of looking at those fools so I gave you the strength to leave that place. You should thank me."**

_"I see...so you can give me power then? Why now?"_

**"It's not that I can give you power whenever. I only have enough saved up to sustain myself. I f you want more power, then you must get it yourself."**

_"How?"_

A smirk found it's way onto the fox's face, even though Naruto couldn't see it himself, he could feel it. **"Are you willing to train under me? Do everything I say, and I will get you as much power as you seek."**

_"...Yes, I'll do whatever it takes."_ After a while, he managed to found his way home and slipped inside silently. 

He was just heading up to his room when someone blocked his path before he could make it halfway up the stairs. He looked up at the eyes of his mother "and where have you been all this time? We were looking for you all night at the party!" She lied, she didn't notice his absence at all until the housekeeper mentioned that Naruto wasn't in his room like usual when she went to clean it. This was when she remembered that it was also Naruto's birthday yesterday, during the twins birthday, Iko always showed off her presence to Naruto and Naruto wouldn't do the same for her, she always thought that was rude of him and had enough. Not to mention that she had to ask the housekeeper to clean up all that fake blood before the guest arrived, she was so tired after eating ice cream with Iko to calm her down that she wanted some time to herself before the party. However, Iko wanted to play games with her because she couldn't find Naruto, so she was double tired. And now it looked like the boy had been out all night having fun! _"I'll show him."_

Naruto looked up at her, not believing a single word she said, she's never once looked for him on his and Iko's birthday. It always felt like she was the mother of one, not two. _"She doesn't expect me to believe her, does she?"_ He thought, "I was in the living room last night waiting for guy guys to come back, but then father threw me away with the rug and I was out all night trying to find my way back home."

"How could you lie on your father like that!!" She yelled as she slapped him hard across the face, "you should be ashamed!"

Mikoto came into the room after hearing the slap. "What's going on here," she asked seeing how Naruto was holding his cheek. Looked down at the shirt that Naruto was wearing, unbeknownst to the blond, there was a red and white fan on the back of the dark blue shirt. "And where did you get that shirt from?"

Naruto held his cheek, he could feel tears starting to form behind his eyes, but he didn't allow himself to cry. Kushina looked at the shirt that Naruto was wearing. "who's shirt is that?" When Naruto didn't answer her, she got angry, "I said who's shirt is that?! Did you stell it from someone? I know I didn't raise a thief in this house!" She gave Naruto another slap on his other cheek, but the blond continued his silence. "Tell me where you got that shirt, or else I'm going to punish you!"

Naruto looked down at the floor, his vision becoming blurry with tears, "go ahead, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Why you!" Kushina lifted up Naruto and threw him against a wall in a fit of rage. Naruto's head connected with the wall harshly before his body slid down to the floor. "Ah! Look what you made me do. Now the maids will have to stay later to clean up your blood off the walls!" 

Mikoto stepped in then, "now, now hold on Kushina," the raven-haired woman stated. Her best friend was letting her temper get the better of her, but she didn't hold too much pity for the boy on th floor. "At least let me collect the shirt first, I don't want any blood on it if he stole it from a clansman of mine."

"B...b-but I don't...have anything- " Naruto stuttered as he struggled to get up, he felt something wet fall from his forehead. He touched the spot with his hand and saw blood. He looked behind him to see a crack in the wall that he landed on just a second ago, he knew that his mother was strong, but he now knew that she was cruel as well.

"I don't care, besides, I need to check to see who's shit that is," Mikoto said slightly upset that the boy was talking back.

Naruto sighed and took off the shirt. He didn't care if what became of it as long as he got rid of it, he was planning on burning it later anyhow. With his body now exposed again, he tried to cover himself up with his arms as he walked around Mikoto and Kushina. _"These women were treating a child like this when they both have kids my age, what kind of world is this?"_ He wondered as he tried to get to the stairs, but Kushina pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I need to go put on some clothes," Naruto stated as he yanked his shoulder out of the red head's grasp. However, Kushina wasn't letting him go that easily.

"Oh no, you don't. You still need to be punished for stealing someone's shirt and stand out all night," Kushina forcefully turned him around to face them. "You are so disrespectful, why are you running around without clothes on anyway? Didn't I teach you better than that?!"

"Kushina, wait, I have an idea what to do with this little brat." Mikoto stated as she stepped closer to her friend, Kushina turned to her curiously. "Look at the marks on his body, clearly he was out all night doing naughty things, so he should be okay if we teach him in the same way since that might be the best way for him to learn." She explained, "if he wants to act an adult now, then we should treat him as such," she gave a devilish gin to her friend who seemed to be getting the idea.

"Oh yes, Mikoto, that sounds like a wonderful idea." Kushina turned back to her son with the same devilish smile on her face, but on her, the look seemed even more wicked. "We'll teach him so that he will never be able to forget for as long as he lives." 

Naruto felt a chill run down his back, "y-you're a monster!" He shouted out without thinking.

Kushina smirked, "who's the one that turned me into a monster, Naruto? Just remember, you made me do this. I was going to go easy on you, but since you want to call names, 

_Mindscape_

Inside the blond's mind, the fox watched the two women confront the blond. He didn't want to let this happen, but he already spent the chakra he had saved up to help the boy move away from those men. If he wasn't so low on energy, he would have helped now as well, but it made no difference, if the boy wasn't so weak, he could have fought back. If it wasn't for those fools splitting him up into three-part, then he would have been able to lend this kid the chakra he needed to get out of this mess. Yet, he couldn't, but it won't be like that for long. He was already planning ways to use this boy to destroy the village that dared to capture him so long ago. **"Just wait a little longer, Konoha, I will make you see the day that this fox burns your lives in the hottest flames I can muster. Just wait."**


	2. The next step

**Two Years later**

Two years have passed since that day. From the humiliation that those nameless ninjas put him through that night, to the continued mistreatment of his family. He couldn't take it anymore. So after that day, once those women were finished messing with him for no good reason, Naruto packed up all his stuff in his room, which wasn't much, and left. He left the Namikage Uzumaki estate and moved into the forest on the other side of the village. There, he followed Kurama's orders and trained his body every day to get stronger. He didn't waste time with feeling tired, he powered through and pushed his limits every day with one clear in mind. He wasn't going to let himself feel so weak and useless ever again. He trained in the forest and didn't allow himself to come in contact with those people. Instead of a mother, he thought of Kushina as the real monster that would sell her son to the highest bidder if she ever got the chance. Instead of a sister, he thought of Iko as a useless, spoiled brat. Instead of a father, Minato was simply the Hokage. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn't want to talk to anyone in the village either, he hated everyone that lived in it, and everyone hated him just the same, so the feelings were more than mutual. While he was training, Kyuubi taught him everything he knew, he had already started learning about some advanced sealing techniques from Kurama after the first year. Kurama noticed that, unlike his sister, Naruto was a much faster learner, he could almost call him a prodigy, so after the start of the second year, he decided to push him a bit more. He wanted to squeeze every bit of knowledge into this boy that he could.

One day during training, Naruto heard some villagers talking about how some guy named Jiraya was coming back to the village. He heard that this Jiraya guy was supposedly a great sanin or something. Not only that, but he was also the teacher of the fourth Hokage. Naruto was interested in what this great sanin person was like, so he made his way over to the Hokage tower quickly. When he arrived, he saw the Hokage in his office doing paperwork when there was a knock on the door and a man with white hair appeared.

* * *

Jiraya knocked on the door to Hokage's office. Minato jumped a bit when he looked up to see Jiraya using the door for once his life. It had been a while since he last saw his pervy teacher, so he engulfed Jiraya into a manly hug, and started to cry? It was an odd sight to see, but the elderly man allowed his former student to cry, once he was done, Minato apologized, "it's fine, would you like to talk about it?" Minato shook his head, "well anyway, I talked to the toads and they have news about the prophecy. Something that might just shake the ninja world to its core as we know it."

"Really? They finally allowed you to talk about it?" Minato asked remembering how Jiraya told him that his children would be apart of a world-changing event when Kushina gave birth. However, for some reason, Jiraya wasn't allowed to tell them the details of the prophecy back then. "What is it?"

"On the night of flames, a hero will be born. All thought their hears are divided, their spirit is as one. They will face many hard times until their hearts become whole. When the stars are brought together, the world will now morning. But to keep them apart is to welcome darkness." Jiraya stated, he got a thoughtful look on his face, "I can't say for sure I understand the prophecy clearly, but I think the hero the toads spoke of is Iko."

"Why do you say that, sensei?" Minato asked curiously, although he would be happy if the hero really was Iko.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jiraya questioned, "I happened to remember hearing Kushina talking about how cute Iko's star-shaped birthmarks on her shoulder was when she was younger. From what I understand, the birthmark is of two stars, so if it's not Iko, then I don't know who else it could be."

"Hmm, maybe, but I don't think its so cut and dry, sensei. However, I do still think that Iko's has the potential to be the hero in that prophecy." Minato stated thoughtfully, "I should probably start her training a little early before she heads off to the academy." He nodded as he turned back to his desk with a tone of paperwork piled up onto it, "I'll get started later today when I head home. She will surely be the strongest out of all the kids in her graduating class." He said as he started planning how to get her started on training, "she'll need my full attention."

"I'll be rooting for you," Jiraya cheered. "Let me know when she's ready and I'll give her the summoning contract for the toads."

Minato turned back to his former sensei with a beaming smile, "let's get through her training first before we get ahead of ourselves, sensei. Kushina's gonna be ecstatic about this when I tell her."

* * *

Just outside the window of the Hokage's office, Naruto was listening to everything. He smirked, "if she's going to be a hero of the prophecy of this village, then I'll make sure that I get even stronger than her. I will put this whole village under my thumb once I take down their supposed hero. I will take her down fair and square, but I can't say how well she'll return the favor. This should be fun though."

Inside his mind, Kyuubi chuckled at his containers wickedness. **"If that's the case, then you still have a long way to go. You will need to build upon this weak body of yours to make sure that it's ready to become something of legends."**

Naruto smirked, "I plan to. For the way this village has treated me, I will make sure to return their kindness infill one day. But..." he turned back to the window to see the Hokage and Jiraya still talking about training the spoiled brat. "I can't do this alone."

**"Oh? What are you planning?"**

Naruto chuckled darkly, "in order to take down this pitiful village, I will need like minds that have faced similar mistreatment by their own kind. I'm sure I can find at least one or two. If not, then I will find someone that I can mold into my ally, I need someone that I can trust. If they become someone that I can't rely on, then I will simply find another and move on."

**"I can't wait to see your handy work my self, then you will truly be my student."** Kurama sighed, **"you should leave, I feel that there is more I need to teach you if you are to accomplish this goal. In order to take the castle, you must have back up plans and a way to get out of situations in case things don't go the way you want them to."**

Naruto nodded, "right," he jumped away from the office window before someone noticed him. He found his way back to the forest and looked around. "Hmm, this place is nice to stay out of view, but I'm getting tired of sleeping outside. It's already been two years since I left that place, but I won't go back. I need a place of my own. Somewhere that I can start making plans to accomplish my goals. I also need to find companions to help me, someone with knowledge and connections. The main thing I need is knowledge and strength, everything else can come later." 

**"I can tell that you have a good idea in mind, but allow me to put this thought on the table."** Kurama chimed in, **"if you want to find a place to settle in, you should build it yourself. Nothing is better than having something you build yourself, I can show you the way. It's a good thing I taught you the shadow clone jutsus first. Make a few to start."** Naruto did as told, he made a couple of clones and waited for further instructions, **"good, now, there's a jutsu that I will be teaching you. It's called Rasengan."**

**To be continued.**


	3. School days 1

It has been a couple of months since Naruto found out about the prophecy and started making plans to make his tormenters pay. He never set foot back inside the Namikaze-Uzumaki estate even now. He made a vow to himself to never go back to the place unless he was knocked unconscious and dragged there against his will. That was the only way that he would ever go back there. Naruto hadn't been seen with the Namaikaza-Uzumaki's ever since the day he left the compound two years ago and Minato was starting to take notice of that face. He asked his wife about it and she would tell him that she taught him a lesson after he was rude to her and her friend, but as to what that lesson was, she never said. Minato would ask her over and over again, but she never told a soul what she and Mikoto did to her own son that day. That is, until one day when rumors about the events started to surface around the village. The news made it back to the Hokage's ears and he was mortified. Even if he hadn't been paying much attention, if at all, to his son, he still cared for the boy. He always assumed that Naruto was in his room isolating himself every time he was home because that's what Kushina let him believe. But now that he's heard the rumors, he started to question his wife more and more until she finally broke down, telling him everything that happened. Minato was so shocked to find out what happened that day that he kicked Kushina out of the mine house of the estate, but Naruto still didn't return home. 

On another note, one could figure out who spread the rumor about what happened that day. Mikoto kept telling Kushina that it wasn't her, and it wasn't, but Kushina didn't believe her. 

While that was going on, Naruto learned all three stages of the Rasengan. After a month, he learned the jutsu without fail. He spent the next few months until school started training in other areas and new things. He perfected his stealth to be mid chunin level, his genjutsu was genin level because Kurama wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he wasn't at least a little good at genjutsu. His ninjutsu was between genin and chunin level, since Kurama didn't have much chakra to add, Naruto had to rely on his own chakra most of the time. His taijutsu was over chunin level, bordering jonin level after practicing it for two years. Because of this, Kurama started training Naruto how to use nature chakra to make himself stronger, this will also help with Kyuubi's chakra intake too. He practiced kenjutsu and found that he was just above genin level when he started practicing by himself but became close to chunin level after he started practicing with his clones.

Naruto used his clones for many things, from training to hunting, but the main use he had for them was building his headquarters. He wanted the place to be big enough to hold a clan and train in, but also not too big that the place would be noticed. With that in mind, Kyuubi taught him more concealment fuuinjutsu, Naruto was able to figure out the basics and started making his own concealment seal that he placed around the area he was building on. After much thought, Naruto decided to build his new home on the outskirts of the village in an area that no one visited. That location was in a section at the very edge of the village that was abandoned long ago after the Kyuubi's attack. He thought this area was perfect because it still held a lot of Kyuubi's lingering chakra floating around in the area. He made a note to see if he could collect that chakra for a side project he came up with.

Of course, Naruto made sure to keep an eye on the competition. Apparently, after all the commotion with Kushina's rumor, Minato started Iko's training. They made it past water and tree walking after two weeks before started on the basics of ninjutsu. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't good either. She was loud and obnoxious, so it stood to reason that she found being silent for long periods of time to be hard. In addition to teaching Naruto about Konoha's history, Kurama also taught him the history of other villages and Haguromo's Ninshu: The Ninja Creed and how it turned into the ninja creed. He taught him about the tailed beast and what was supposed to happen, and what actually ended up happening instead.

* * *

It was the first day of the academy. Naruto wasn't really looking forward to mingling with other people or their kids, just look at the way he's been treated all his life. He didn't have a single friend, and who was to blame? He couldn't go outside before because people would mess with him even if he didn't say or do anything to them. He found everyone's presence around him to be useless. He didn't want to be here, but if he wanted to become an official ninja, he needed to graduate from a school for ninjas in a ninja village. A regular school wouldn't cut it, even though he could pass through the grades there so easy. He didn't want to go, but he had to if he wanted to be a proper ninja, although he was sure that a few more years under Kurama would yield him the results he was hoping for and then some. When Naruto made it to the front of the building, without anyone's help, he noted the many parents telling their child to study hard out loud, while secretly telling them to stay away from Naruto. He was used to seeing them discriminate against him, but to try to do it in front of the Hokage, he was amazed that they had such big balls. Naruto was able to make it to the front door undisturbed because a few weeks before, he managed to get his hands on some materials to help him make clothes. He knew that since he left the Namikaza-Uzumaki household, many people thought that he would still be dressing in bright orange or some other loud color like he used to when he was still trying to gain attention from his parents. However, if it wasn't for his attention-seeking ways back then, he wouldn't have worn those colors, to begin with. Now he was wearing an army green hoodie with black pants and sandals. He wasn't surprised when no one recognized him, he used this chance to observe the crowd and his future classmates. 

When the bell ran, he spotted Minato and Iko talking happily, while Kushina, who seemed to be trying not to draw too much attention to herself, stood behind them. Minato bent down to Iko's eye level to tell her something that made her smile and jump for joy. Shortly after, the instructors showed up to take everyone inside. Naruto noticed Minato looking through the crowd trying to find him, but he decided to slip inside without talking to the Hokage on his first day of school. He didn't need that kind of attention on him. The teacher let everyone into the classroom and started the class off by introducing themselves. "Hello class, my name is Iruka Umino and I will be your sensei during your time here at the ninja academy. When you're name is called, please stand up and introduce yourself." Naruto wasn't looking forward to doing this, so he put his head down to sleep through the introductions. It didn't seem like anyone noticed him yet, he wanted to keep that going as long as possible, he put his head on the desk and instantly fell asleep. He was tried after spending an extra hour going over some more concealment seal formulas that he was going over before losing track of time and passing out. He nearly didn't make it to school today because of that. "When you're name is call, please tell us something about yourselves, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, anything along those lines will be fine as long as you say something." Iruka noticed a student had their head down on the desk already since it was the first day, he decided to let it go. He went through the introductions quickly not wanting to waste time before introducing the students on the lessons he had planned this year. After a while, he started to get to the kids that were from clans, he heard that he had a hand full of heirs in his class this year, "Shino."

Shino stood up, half his face was covered and he wore sunglasses, "my name is Shino Abarame. I like bugs."

"Chouji," Iruka called out.

The boy named Chouji stood up eating a bag of chips. "I'm Chouji Akamichi and I like food and hanging out with my friends," since it was the first day, Iruka would let this go with a warning. 

"Thank you, Chouji, but please leave the eating during lunch and breaks, okay?" Iruka looked back at his list after Chouji sat back down, "Sakura."

A girl with pink hair stood up, "hello, my name I Sakura Haruno, I like books and flowers."

Iruka nodded, "thank you, Sakura," he marked her name of like the others before her and went to the next name. "Hinata."

A girl with pale lavender eyes that looked nearly white stood up next. In a shy voice, she spoke, "hello, I'm Hinata Hyuuga, I like cinnamon rolls," she blushed bright red as she looked down at the desk before sitting back down.

"Kiba."

A boy in a grey shirt soot up, "hi, I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and I love dogs!"

"Nice to meet you, next up," Iruka looked down at his list, "Shikamaru. Shikamaru!" He looked up to see why the boy wasn't answering only to see that a second student was sleeping in his class. It was only the first day, but he already had two people sleeping in class? He was looking forward to punishing them later, "someone please wake up Shikamaru," he pointed to the boy next to Chouji. A blond-haired girl sitting behind the two boys jumped up and hit Shikamaru over the head, the boy jumped up from the pain and glared at the girl behind him, "glad you're still with us, Shikamaru, please introduce yourself to the class."

"Fine~" Shikamaru yawned as he stood up, "the names Shikamaru Nara. I like to sleep," then he sat back down and put his head back on the desk.

Iruka's eye twitched a little as he called the next name, "Sasuke."

The said boy stood up, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I'm going to be the number one ninja."

The girls in the class, except a few, oh and awed at his words. _"Guess I already know who's going to be the class favorite for the guys now,"_ Iruka thought as he went to the next name. "Iko."

Iko jumped up happily with a big bright smile as if she couldn't wait for her turn. "It's about time! My name's Iko Uzumaki-Namikaza and I'm going to the next Hokage!" More ohs and awes filled the room as Iko sat down.

Iruka nodded, _"and there goes the one for the girls. Let's see, who's next..."_ he looked over the list and frowned a little. "Naruto," he looked up to see where he was, he didn't see the village pariah anywhere in class, usually he would have spotted him right away because he always wore bright colored clothes. However, he heard the rumors that he had been missing from the Hokage's house for over two years now. "Naruto?" Everyone looked around to see if they saw the boy that their parents told them to stay away from, everyone's eyes were drawn to the sleeping form at the back of the room near the window. Iruka's frown deepened, he turned to the board behind him, picked up a piece of chalk, and threw it at the blond's head. To everyone's surprise, the boy caught it, Naruto sat up and looked at the chalk as if it cussed out his loved ones right in front of his face. He turned ice-cold blue eyes to Iruka, the chunin shivered at the sight of those blue eyes that seemed to dare him to face the consequences for bad-mouthing him. Iruka took a second to collect himself before speaking, "Naruto, introduce yourself."

Naruto sighed as he crushed the chalk in his hand, "I'm Naruto, I'm tired. Good night," he put his head back down on the desk after that.

"Your whole name, Naruto," Iruka stated.

"That is my full name, Iruka" Naruto shot back with his head still on the desk.

Iruka's eye twitched again, "no it's not, please introduce yourself properly or else-"

Naruto sighed again, "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaza, happy now?"

"No-"

"Then I can't help you, _sensei_ ," Naruto stated as he went back to sleep.

Iruka grumbled something under his breath before moving on to the last person, "Ino."

Ino stood up with a bright smile, "uh, my name is Ino Yamanaka, I like flowers." The room felt awkward after Naruto talked back to Iruka, the other students weren't sure what to do.

Iruka sighed, "alright, everyone, please take out your books so we can start today's lesson."

**"Don't worry kit, you only have to do this for a few hours every day."**

_"I know, I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late last night before coming here. "_

* * *

**After school**

_"Man that whole lesson was shit! I couldn't stay awake to save my life! I thought we were supposed to be learning history not take an eight fucking hour nap!"_

Kurama jumps up from his sleep when he heard Naruto's mental screams, **"huh, is it finally over?"** The fox asked sleepily as he stretched his limbs.

_"Yeah, and it was boring as hell, we didn't do a single thing. I'm so fucking bord now. I wanna find something to do before we have to go back to that dumbass class."_ Naruto thought of ways to release his boredom before class started up again tomorrow when someone walked into him. "Eh? What the-"

"HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING IDIOT, YOU JUST WALKED INTO SASUKE-KUN!!" Yelled something with pink hair.

Naruto blinked at them and observed the situation. There was a group of girls surrounding a boy with black hair in the shape of a duck's ass, he looked over to the girl with pink hair. "And?" He asked not really caring, he didn't remember any of their names, _"Kurama, you remember these plebs?"_

**"They're kids from your class, I think. I wasn't paying much attention to their names, mainly because you were trying to win against me at GO back then. By the way, the scores still 70-0"**

Naruto 's eye twitched, _"_ _whatever. I'll get you next time,"_ he thought back then remembered that he was standing in front of someone. The girls looked pissed and the boy looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here, "who are you guys again?"

The kid with the duck butt seemed to be pissed that he said that. "How did you just forget our names so quickly? Do you even have a brain in that head of yours?" The boy asked and the girls behind him giggled.

Naruto shrugged, "yeah, but a few brain cells died after hearing that pathetic excuse of a burn you just tried to dish out. To tell you the truth, I'm a little embarrassed to have even heard it myself." He yawned and started walking off, "now if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do than talk to idiots like you."

The boy got angry, he grabbed Naruto's arm before he could get far. "Where do you think you're going, I am the number on ninja, Sasuke Uchiha. Apologies for what you just did!"

"Huh, why?" Naruto asked turning back to the Uchiha, "oh, by the way, you look like someone I meet in the whore house recently. Do you by chance know a person named Mikoto?"

Everyone who was in earshot at the time gasped as if the was no air. "Ooo, he just called his mom a hoe!" One kid yelled from somewhere, this only caused him to get Sasuke to get angrier, Naruto smirked and waited for the show to being.

"You dare talk about my mother, you piece of shit," Sasuke said darkly, "take that back!" He balled up his fist and threw a punch at the blond, but Naruto dodged it. 

"Whoa, was that a punch, or were you trying to swat a fly away, cause that was shit," Naruto chuckled.

"Why you," Sasuke threw another punch at the blond, then another, and another. Naruto dodged every punch that was thrown his way, some of the other girls were starting to get frustrated that the blond boy wasn't hit yet and started throwing punches themselves. "Stay still, damnit," Sasuke shouted. 

"Uh yeah, not a chance, I haven't done anything to you, but yet you want to hit me? Are you some sort of petty baby or something?" Naruto laughed, "here, I'll show you something better."

"You think-" but before Sasuke could finish, Naruto's fist connected with his face and he was sent flying backward into a tree. Everyone that saw was shocked, they had no idea that the kid that their parents all told them was weak and dumb could be strong enough to do that. Sasuke's body hit the tree at full force, the girls screeched and ran after the Uchiha while everyone else stared on in shock.

Naruto chuckled as he walked away from the scene. He decided to leave via the rooftop, the school day was just about over anyway, so there was no harm in leaving early. He made it back to the outskirts of the village without anyone taking note of him. It was normal for ninjas to use the roof to get across the village quickly so he wasn't exactly out of place with his movements. _"Well that was fun, but I don't think I can have that much fun for a while now. They've already seen a piece, I can't put everything on display on the first day, now can I? But I'll be damned if I have to dumb my ass down for those idiots."_

**"That's my kit, hiding in plain sight it more fun anyway,"** Kurama chuckled. **"By the way kit, I think you should think about molding some of those idiots into your subordinates."**

"My subordinates, huh? Yeah, I'll think about it. I'll take a look at who'll be the best fit for my needs tomorrow and go from there."

* * *

**3 years later**

So three years went by in a blink of an eye. Naruto was now ten and tired of having to come to school every day, thankfully there was always the weekends that he could look forward to. Naruto made sure that he showed up to school and not his cone because they were all busy putting the finishing touches on his headquarters. He was so happy that his new home was almost finished, he was getting tired of having to listen to the construction noise every time he went to sleep at night. He wanted everything to be done quickly so he made a bunch of clones for the best quality results. He also had some clones doing various training exercises while he was away. Half of the clones would train, the other half will work on the building, and they would rotate often. Naruto was happy that things were coming along nicely with his new home, the outside building was done, it was only the inside and underground that needed to be done now. He had some tunes that he wanted to be installed that was taking a bit longer to get through, not to mention that the construction for the underground passages needed to be handled carefully. Upon closer inspection, the tunes that Naruto was building would lead all over the village in a matter of time, but for now, he was focusing on only building a path two and from certain places. School, the Hokage Tower, and even a passage near one of the north gates. He had to make sure that none of his passages were discovered, once everything was completely finished, he could travel around the village in secret whenever he wanted. 

As far as training and school went, Kurama had taught him a few more jutsus and fighting styles. After the first day, Naruto's reputation at school didn't improve. Yet, it didn't go down either. Most of the kids stared clear of him most of the time while some of the other kids that tried to bully him picked fights with him often. Naruto would win every time, and no one could say anything about him cheating because he never did. Naruto prided himself on playing fair to a point. He would never cheat in a fight unless his opponent cheated first. And of course, there have been many who tried to cheat him out of a fair win, yet Naruto still one those fights as well. Then there was Sasuke. The Uchiha never gave up on trying to 'put the dobe in his place'. Whenever the two crossed paths, Sasuke would square off with Naruto and tried to get one over on him, but Naruto saw through his plans every time and taunted him for trying to do something silly like that. Sasuke's ever-growing fan club targeted Naruto and always complained to the teachers that Naruto was bullying Sasuke, Naruto didn't fight back on that regard because he knew that he wouldn't win in that case. Since his statues at the most hated person in the village never changed, he ignored everyone and tried to live his best life, even when it felt like he was walking amongst idiots. Every day was annoying. Yet he endured it all just to make sure that his revenge was that much sweeter. 

Of course, after the first week of becoming an academy student, Naruto became bord to keep up the same old routine day in and day out. He needed money for things like food, clothes, weapons, materials, and so on. He couldn't wait five years to be a ninja and go on missions to earn money that way, so as a joke, Naruto created a secret identity. The personality Naruto created was called 'Fox' very creative, right? Anyway, Fox became the second-youngest ANBU in history, it was a miracle that he made it through the selection exam. Honestly, it was pure dumb luck. He took the exam when he was only seven years old, and made it...was there something wrong with this villages system or was it just a coincidence that both Naruto and Itachi both made it into the ANBU? Fox made sure to never show his face to anyone, not even his superiors, he always stated that he was horribly disfigured when he was just a baby and therefore, he preferred to cover most of his face with a mask. The only part of his face that he allowed to be seen was his eyes, he changed his eye color to a stunning green color whenever he was acting as Fox. They were different from his icy blue ones that seemed to chill the air people he looked at, or so he heard once when he was eavesdropping on one of his classmates. Now, after three seemingly short, or long, whichever way you looked at it, years, Naruto managed to climb the ranks of ANBU and was now a captain. In fact, he was being announced as captain by his own father, not that the man would ever suspect him to accomplish such a thing. They had yet to meet face to face, actual face to face, in five years. _"It's whatever, at least now I can rake in some real money as captain, the benefits are not bad either. I can sleep in the quarters whenever I want and no one asks about my background. Well, except for Itachi, but he's another story, he's kind of strange, but I've never had a big brother before, so I wouldn't know."_

"Fox, please come forward to accept your new captain's mask," Minato announced. Naruto stepped forward to accept the mask, it looked just like his old fox mask, however, there was read painted in the ears and two long triangles painted on either side of the face to symbolize whiskers. "Fox, do you accept your new position?"

Fox gave the expected bow as he got down on one knee with his head down in front of the Hokage. "Yes, Lord Hokage," he stated. _"Hell yeah, now just hurry up and give me the damn mask, I'm about to be late for school ou old fart,"_ he thought bitterly. Naruto would have been in a way better mood if it wasn't for the SSS rank mission he just barely made it back from last night and the six-page report he had to right up soon after. He had to explain how the information they usually got their info from was found out turned and traitor all to please his girlfriend that was actually the enemy forces leader. The mission was supposed to be finished in seven days, but after finding out that the informant was going over to the enemy's side and would potentially leak village secrets. If it wasn't for Fox's clones, they would have been out of the village of an extra three days trying to tie up loose ends, but thankfully that wasn't the case and they finished the mission two days ahead of schedule.

Minato nodded, "then I will bestow this honor upon you. It is an honor to have you working for us, Captain Fox." He handed the young boy his new mask, "I look forward to hearing many more great things about you, Fox." 

Fox nodded his head as he took off his old maks and placed the new one in place, "thank you, Lord Hokage, I will not let you down." He stated as he stood up and turned to his follow ANBU brothers and sister, he spotted Itachi's weasel mask in the front row when everyone stood up to clap for him. Naruto walked off the stage as his turn had come to an end, there were still three other new captains that need to accept their masks. Once off the stage, he walked over to stand in the crowd and watch the rest of the ceremony go on patiently, he could have just left a clone in his place before he left to for his room to rest a little until school stated. However, that would be rude and he would need to work with these people a little while longer, so it would be best not to upset any of them if he wanted them to have his back on missions. Of course, after he first became an ANBU, there were plenty who didn't let him forget about his 'handicaps' of being so young, but Naruto showed them that he was no pushover soon enough. Kurama had been pushing his training as far as it could go without breaking the poor kid and it seems like it was finally starting to pay off. He was now a high jonin in almost everything, he was still lacking in genjutsu, he was probably a high chunin at the moment, but he believed that was because of the seal that was used when Kurama's soul was sealed into him. Somehow, it was messing with his jutsus, his chakra output would fluctuate every now and then and it bothered him for the longest time. Yet, that didn't stop him from pushing himself, currently, he was working on a seal that would soon solve that problem. 

"What are you thinking about so intensely, Fox?" Naruto glanced out the corner of his eye to see Itachi before his eyes returned to the stage as another ANBU captain was given their mask. 

"Nothing that you need to worry about, Weasel," Naruto replied as Fox.

"I see, well you should smile more. Your aura is very gloomy," Weasel stated as the crowed started clapping again.

"...Happiness is for the civilians and the ignorant. I don't have time for such things," Fox replied.

"Ah, so you say, but I think if you truly want something, it will be yours in the end," Weasel glanced down at the younger boy.

Naruto met his eye as another person received their mask. He turned back to the stage and thought over those words for a second, he mentally chuckled. "Foolish," he stated as the crowed started clapping again.

* * *

After the ceremony was over and everyone had left to go back to work, Naruto left the ANBU HQ to start heading to school. He didn't want to be late, but he didn't care about being early either. He made a pitstop at his house to take a show and get changed, due to the length and intensity of the mission, he didn't have the time to relax much at all. Sleep lasting longer than two hours or less for four days straight was a luxury for his team and he barely made it back to the village after everything was done. He needed to wash up quickly and leave before he got too relaxed and missed school. Even after becoming an ANBU, he's never missed a day of school, he kind of felt pride in that fact because he got to look Iruka in the eye every day he came in. It was his way of saying 'fuck you, I'm here to stay'. When he got home, he stripped his clothes off, hopped into the show for a cold shower to stimulate his senses, then got changed before leaving. He had just enough fuel to make it to class and sit at his desk before blacking out. If anyone got in his way before then, then someone should pray for those unfortunate souls right now. Through the miracle of a higher power, Naruto made it to school. He was dressed in a red hoodie and plan cargo pants, he made his hoody personalized with a message. The front stated 'Ninja Business' while the back said, 'Fuck Off', he thought it was kind of funny at the time and didn't feel like changing it. Both sides were painted on in perfect kanji so even an idiot could read it given how slow it would take them to really register what he was saying. _"It's not like it's rocket science or anything, but they're all idiots in my eyes anyway,"_ he chuckled under his breath as he walked into the classroom. He found his desk, sat down, and placed his head down on the desk without saying a word to anyone in the class. Everyone else in class mind their own business when the blond put his head down. No one dared to bother the blond when he was wearing his red hoodie, the last time someone did, they ended up face first in the trash can. 

**To be continued...**


	4. School days 2

Kurama woke up sometime after the captain ceremony to find his container on his way back to school. **"Looks like he doesn't need his clone to stand in for him today."** He stretched his limbs out as he waited for the blond to put his head down on the desk. **"So you're back in this place again, how did the mission turn out?"**

Naruto mentally groaned, _"good, and bad. We finished ahead of schedule and they promoted me to captain. But the bad news is, I have another long mission coming in a few days."_

**"Wow, they're really putting you through the wringer, huh, kit? This is why I told you to hide your skills once you joined, now look at you, a ten-year-old captain, It's more than likely that they will be keeping a closer eye on you now that you're in the higher ranks at such a young age."**

Naruto let out a deep breath, _"yeah, I figured as much. But I couldn't allow myself to get killed on a mission back then, so I had to reveal some of my true strength in order to get away from that ronin back then. It was like he was sent to test me or something, and well, after that, there was just no going back. Honestly, I'm a little frustrated that they promoted me as they did, I would have rather waited until next year to be promoted, but Minato was very insistent. Hw wouldn't let such a talented ANBU spend their years as a lowly soldier when they could be leading teams with my kind of strength."_

**"Even so, I did warn you that this would happen. Damn, but besides that, I guess it's about time I let you in on a little secret of mine,"** Kurama had been debating with himself on whether or not he should tell him. Yet, since Naruto's put himself in this kind of situation, it only made sense that he tell him now after he's achieved the rank of captain.

_"Can you tell me after I rest? I have been up for about four days straight, y'know,"_ Naruto yawned.

Kurama flicked his tails about behind him as he thought, **"fine, I'll wait. Might as well tell you when you're fully awake enough to care."**

* * *

Shikamaru walked into class a few seconds before the bell rang. He was just in time to make it to his seat before class started, as he sat down, he noticed someone walk in behind him. He was sitting in the back row, one seat away from the door, he was about to put his head down when he noticed the person came in and walked to their seat at the other end of the row. He looked over to see Naruto take his seat and put his head down without saying hello to anyone. Shikamaru had noticed that Naruto never talked to anyone first, people would always come up to him and to start fights or call him names, but Naruto was never put down by their words. Instead, the blond would make comebacks of his own that sometimes seem to destroy his opponent's will to continue the confrontation. Ever since the first day, Shikamaru had quietly observed the male Uzumaki-Namikaza heir and came to a few conclusions. 

Firstly, Naruto isn't as stupid as everyone said he was. Shikamaru first heard about Naruto from Ino when they were about three. From her words alone, Naruto sounded like he was just a troublesome, attention-seeking person. Of course, this was only based on words alone, since he had never met the guy before. 

Secondly, Naruto's characteristics from what he heard, compared to what he's seen, was completely different. If you were to tell Shikamaru that the Naruto from the past and the one he was seeing now was the same person, he would have said that you were lying. The Naruto that he had come to know in class was careful, calculating, he never did anything without thinking it through first. Sometimes he thought the blond boy got some sort of sadistic satisfaction from beating up the kids that tried to mess with him. Then again, on the second day of class, Naruto did announce to everyone that if they wanted their ass beat, they should mess with him. He guessed that some people wanted to test their limits against Naruto, that's why Naruto had a new challenger every other day.

Thirdly, despite what he was led to believe, Shikamaru found that the Uzumaki-Namikaza twins did not like each other. It was glaringly obvious that both their personalities didn't mix well. Iko was like the spoiled princess living in some kind of fairy tale land far away from reality, while her brother had a firm grasp of reality. It was like looking at night and day, two opposites that didn't attract. Iko would bad mouth her brother to all her friends and tell them not to hang out or talk to him, and of course, everyone around her did everything she said because she was the daughter of the Hokage. Yet Naruto, who didn't seem to have a single friend to speak of, kept to himself and ignored his sister whenever she spoke to him. It was almost like watching one of these nosy tiny dogs barking at a wall to get its attention, annoying and pointless. 

Shikamaru's been watching Naruto for a while but had yet to actually talk to him. Ino or someone else would always get in the way and make his efforts seem too troublesome to continue. _"Should I try again at lunch, it's not like I have anything better to do, Chouji's going to be away from class today because of clan stuff. If I succeed this time, what should I say? Ah well, I think of something when the time comes,"_ with that thought, he put his head down on the desk and fell asleep.

* * *

**Lunch**

Naruto woke up sometime around lunch, the classroom was mostly empty by the time he woke up so he just got up and left. He stretched his arms and back, "man that was a good nap, I wonder what I should eat for lunch," he wondered out loud to himself. He made his way outside without stopping, he made his way over to the forest behind the school and started looking for something, it didn't take him long before he spotted a blackberry bush. He picked as few and ate it, "not bad, I should take some home for dessert later," as he picked the barries, he remembered the conversation he had with Kurama earlier. _"Okay, so what was that talk about secrets earlier?"_

Kurama yawned, he was getting tired of waiting for the blond to wake up and contemplated taking another nape to pass the time. **"Ah, yes, well the secret is a bloodline, I was planning on giving it to you so you can better achieve your goals, but it eats up a lot of chakra, so you would need to train your chakra control to withstand that kind of strain. It's a doujutsu that also has the additional side effect of it impregnating males,"** explained the fox.

_"Huh? A bloodline? Wait, how can you just give out bloodlines like that? I thought that bloodlines were something that you got from birth because there's a family member that also holds the same bloodline."_ He stated since he clearly remembered Iruka gooing over such a thing the year before because he actually stayed away during that lesson when everyone else thought he was still asleep.

**"Normally yes, however, you forget that I am a tailed beast, so in that case, I can do whatever I want,"** Kurama boasted. Naruto have the fox a mental image of his unimpressed face as stopped picking barries to find something else to eat. Kurama rolled his eyes, **"fine, the truth is, every tailed beast has a set amount of bloodlines they carry within themselves, if they are sealed into a human container and they feel that person is worthy, they can share a bloodline with them. Even though most, if not all, my siblings were sealed away by force, they can still determine whether or not a person's characteristics are worthy of such a thing. Since you have gone through my training and even earned the rank of an ANBU captain at such a young age, I decided that you are worthy, so you may praise me now for choosing you."**

_"Right, thank you, Kurama, so much. But one thing though, why the side effect?"_

**"Don't ask me, my old man was the one who came up with such a thing, you should ask him. In fact, I think that old geezer might have been a little drunk to come up with such a side effect, even though the bloodline is quite strong and could be useful."**

"I see, so it's a doujutsu like Hinata's and Sasuke's eyes, huh?" Naruto thought out loud, _"how does this doujutsu work? And will my regular eye color change? If it's something too noticeable, I will have to keep up a genjutsu."_

**"Don't worry, your eyes won't change while it's not active,"** Kurama stated. **"This doujutsu is unlike the ones you've seen before, it's more superior than the Hyuuga's Byakugan and the Uchiha's Sharingan. It's the same doujutsu that my old man had."**

Naruto paused, _"you mean Hogoromo, the Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki? The famed Sage of Six Paths?"_

**"The one and the same, my old man was awesome wasn't he?"** Kurama chuckled, **"with this doujutsu, you will become even stronger than you are now. There's a reason why it's called the God-like Doujutsu. We're going to have to get you started on using it soon, the earlier the better."**

Naruto smirked and continued his walk, _"yeah, I can't wait."_

**"You know kit, with this new bloodline, you could go to the council and make an appeal to start your own clan. Since you already claimed a piece of uninhabited land within the village, and have a home big enough to start your clan in. A training area and the money from your ANBU missions is nothing to sniff atm I'd say you're already set to start things off with a bang! We could have a harem!"**

Naruto rolled his eyes, _"a harem? I suppose but is this really for this new clan I'm trying to make or is it to fulfill your own pervy fantasy?"_

Kurama chuckled, **"If I say a little of both, what are you going to do about it?"**

_"Nothing, I guess,"_ the blond stated as he spotted a rabbit around in the distance. "Hello, dinner," he smirked as he got down and silently crept up behind it. _"By the way, how would you know if that side effect thing actually works or not? Did you try it out before?"_

**"No, I just know, but you can always try it out later. I can volunteer my new body for your test subject,"** the fox smirked as he licked his lips. **"The good part about this side effect is that it goes both ways."**

Naruto concealed his presence as he prepares to capture the rabbit, he takes out his dagger that he always carries with him. It was the first weapon he bought, the handle was a deep red, the blade was sharp and thin with the words 'Death March' engraved on one side. It was a little extra touch that he had added as his calling card. He waited for the moment to strike before bursting out of the bushes and slicing his dagger down onto the unsuspecting creature. The rabbit wasn't expecting to be attacked so suddenly, Naruto had made sure that his footsteps were silent like Kurama taught him. When the blade came down, the rabbit tried to run, but the blad was too quick, it was buried deep in the rabbits back right where the heart was located, making it an instant kill. Naruto stepped out of the bushes as he ripped his dagger out of the rabbits back, he swung the weapon in a way that allowed the excess blood to fly off before he took out a napkin to wipe off the rest. Once he was done, he put the dagger down next to him and put his hands together to pray, "thank you for your sacrifices." He picked up the rabbit by its ears and grabbed his dagger before standing back up to find a place to start cleaning and cooking the rabbit so he could have something in his belly better than barries. _"By the by, Kurama, just now, were you offering me sex just now? You know only ten right?"_

**"Yeah, and you're mother was twenty-nine when she raped you back then, but that didn't stop her."** Kurama stated bluntly and Naruto cringed, **"look, I'm hundreds of years old, I'm bored, and I am not getting any younger, so what if I want to have a little fun? Besides, I'm doing this for science."**

_"Are you morally deprived or something?"_ Naruto asked as he put the rabbit down in order to look for some wood to burn.

**"No, just horny."**

Naruto rolled his eyes, _"great..."_ he sighed as he gathered wood and started a fire before getting started on the rabbit's fur. " _Fine, whatever,"_ he conceded, he heard Kurama cheer in his head. _"I'm almost done making the seal construct your human form, by this time tomorrow, you should be able to walk around freely outside the seal."_

**"My, are you that eager to try me out, kit?"** Kurama teased his container.

Naruto was startled by the images Kurama sent his way, making him accidentally chop the rabbits head off prematurely. _"Damn pervert fox,"_ he thought with a blush on his face as he finished skinning the rabbit and put the corpse on the fire to rost. He took out a sealing scroll from his back pocket and stored the fur into it, adding it to a collection of furries he was planning to sell later.

Kurama chuckled, **"that Nara kid looks like he would be a screamer. The quiet ones are usually the loudest in bed, there's also that Inuzuka kid, his clan is filled with wild animals. It only stands to reason that their clansmen be just as wild as the dogs they tame. Oh, and-"**

"Okay, I get it!" Naruto almost shouted, "damn pervert," his face was starting to get as red as a tomato with the thoughts that Kurama kept suggesting. _"Besides, all that will have to wait until I came back from my mission anyway. It's going to take about two weeks to complete, but I'll be by myself so I can take as little or as long as I want-don't suggest I bring back someone from the place I'm going to put in your harem nonsense, I'm only going there for work, got it."_

Kurama shrugged his shoulders, **"fine, I hear you loud and clear. But still, give it some thought."**

**To be continued...**


	5. Suna

**A few days later**

After some much-needed rest, it was finally the day of his mission. He put on his usual face mask and his new fox mask, he checked his pack to make sure that he got everything he needed. When he was sure he had everything he needed, he turned to the two other people in the room. The first was his clone, the second was Kurama. Two days back, Naruto completed the seal that would free Kurama from the seal without killing himself in the process. In order to do this, he needed to keep a small amount of Kurama's chakra in the seal while the rest, along with Kyuubi's consciousness, was extracted and placed in a new seal. The new seal was placed onto a special clone Naruto made with his own blood called a blood clone. The blood clone was a jutsu that Naruto learned from Kurama when he was nine just in case he needed to be away from the village for long periods of time. Once Naruto placed the new seal on the blood clone, the clone's form started to change, within that moment, Naruto needed to concentrate some of his chakras to reshape the clone's appearance and functions to better suit Kurama's needs. Once the clone's transformation was complete, Kurama's new human form stood before him. 

The new form that he chooses for Kurama would complement the fox's nature better than simply changing the height of the clone's form. The form that stood before Naruto now was of a boy with pale skin pure enough to look like it was glowing. He had long, flowing, fire-red hair that reached down to his lower back that was as smooth as silk. His eyes were a golden-amber color that could captivate anyone that looked into them, like pools of amber-colored dreams. His fire was effeminate because the fox insisted that he had no gender, so Naruto didn't really know which way to make his body look in that regard. In that case, he went for something in between that blurred the lines between male and female, which is why Kurama's face resembled more of the heart shape with soft features. For fun, Naruto made Kurama's hips a little wider in case their experiment was successful. Kurama's height was about the same as Naruto's if only an inch or two shorter. Right now, Kurama had his long, silky red hair pulled up into a high ponytail and was wearing one of Naruto's spare ANBU uniforms and held his old mask in hand. Naruto sighed, "okay, so I already told the Hokage that you're the apprentice that I've been training in my spare time when we met him, let me do all the talking, got it."

Kurama grinned a fox-like grin, "you got it chief!" Naruto had also changed his clone's vocal cords to sound more effeminate to match his appearance. So Kurama's voice was sounded soft and sweet even when he was talking about weird things.

Naruto turned to his clone, "keep an eye on things here. We shouldn't have too many problems this far out, but if you find anyone snooping around here, you know what to do." The clone nodded, "great, Kurama, let's go." Naruto pulled his face mask that looked a lot like Kakashi's, put on his fox maks, and walked over to the window before jumping out, Kurama was on his heels. It didn't take them long to reach the kage's tower, in classic ANBU style, the two appeared silently in front of Minato's desk, "Fox and apprentice reporting for duty, sir."

Minato jumped up from his sleep when he heard the firm voice of his youngest ANBU captain to date. The older blond wiped the drool from his face and looked down at the two boys before him. "Ah, Fox, this must be the person you told me about." He looked over at the redhead, "I must say that I was surprised to hear that Fox had an apprentice after all this time. From what I heard from the other ANBU members, Fox here is quite brutal when it comes to his training methods, I thought that it was next to impossible for anyone to survive under him. Even though he's so young, he's so cruel to others, haha," Minato laughed humorously.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," Fox stated deciding to take it as a compliment. He didn't think he was being cruel to the other ANBU who asked him for some training, he simply implemented Kurama's training tactics on them the same way he learned. It seems that not just anyone can withstand such training, "if you don't mind, Lord Hokage, I would like to take my apprentice with me on this mission."

"Really? You were serious about that?" Minato asked as he looked back at the redhead who had yet to say anything, "are you really sure? You two may be the same age, and I know you said you trained him yourself after you joined, but..."

Fox nodded, "yes, Lord Hokage, I know that all ANBU candidates are meant to go through the selection exams, however. With your permission, I would be honored if you allowed me to put my training to the test by allowing him to travel with me on this mission."

Minato had a pensive look on his face as he thought things through. He could let this new person go with Fox as a test of faith, but to have both boys leave on a dangerous mission like this made him feel bad. On the other hand, he could deny Fox's request and face the consequences...Then again, the boy was trained by Fox personally was still alive, so maybe..."Alright, Fox, I will allow it this time, however. If you have any other apprentices you would like to work with in the future that are not apart of the force, please notify me right away so they can take the exam and be inducted. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Fox nodded his head once.

"Good," Minato took out the mission file from his desk. "This is your mission. As you know, Suna's jinchuriki holds the one-tailed tanuki, Shikaku. We've gotten reports from some of our ninjas that visited the village during the past chunin exams that the jinchuriki is very unstable. I want you to head over there to make sure that the Jinchuriki is stable enough to travel to our village for future events similar to the chunin exams. He should be around the age of ten right now, so I will be sending you back to check on him again once a year to make sure that he stays stable enough to compete without causing any unnecessary casualties. If there are any changes from this year to next, please report them indirectly, I will handle things from there. That's all, dismissed."

"Yes, Sir," Fox disappeared with the given file in a blink of an eye.

Once he was gone, Minato decided to go back to sleep before continuing with his mountains of paperwork.

Outside, Naruto looked over the file with Kurama looking over his shoulder. "We're about to meet one of your siblings...how do you feel about that?" Naruto asked glancing back at the redhead.

Kurama smirked behind the mask, "I'm finally meeting that little brat after so long. He was such a big whiner when we were little, he always wanted someone to stay up and play with him all the time. I can't imagine what kind of torment he's causing his new master right about now."

Naruto chuckled, "well, we've got a week to find out, don't we?" The blond stood up after putting away the file, "I also want to take a look at his seal.

"Why, you want to learn more techniques from another village?" Kurama asked.

Naruto shrugged and took off towards the village gates. Kurama was right behind him in an instant. "I just want to see what I can see, there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Besides, I'm a little excited, I get to meet another person that truly knows my pain. If there's something that I can do for them, I will try."

"Well, well, look at you over here, Mr. Bleeding Heart. Should I get the violins ready? Are you going to cry when you meet this person?" Kurama chuckled, "I almost feel jealous that you're so excited to met others."

"Shut it, Kurama, I'm just talking," Naruto sighed with a shake of his head. 

* * *

**Suna**

Gaara walked through the village with his head down. It was dark out, everyone was most likely sleeping right about now, he was a little jealous, he wished he knew what that felt like. To sleep, to dream. He wished he knew, he wishes he could talk to someone, but no one would get close to him. They all looked at him with hate. He wished he could change things, but he couldn't. "Gaara?" Gaara looked up from his path to see Yashimaru standing in front of him, "come on Gaara, it's time for dinner." 

"Okay," Gaara followed his guardian back to the house. He ate his dinner in silence like usual when he was done, Yashimaru gave him a quick bath and changed his clothes. Gaara then told him good night and went back to his room to find something to do. He read all of the books on his shelf, played with all the toys in the room, there was really nothing for him to do all night by himself. He would play with his siblings, but not even they seemed to like him, he sighed, he wished he could sleep, but he could. He sat down in the chair in front of his window and watched the sleeping village, wondering what it would be like to be a normal kid. As he watched the world outside his window, he saw something, it looked like ninjas hopping on the rooftops. They weren't out of place, this was a ninja village after all, however, instead of the usual tan clothes he was used to seeing the ninjas from his village wear, these ninjas wore black and had something white on their faces. There was two of them, they were currently standing on the roof across from his bedroom window, Gaara couldn't believe what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes and didn't see them when he looked again, frowning, Gaara went back to staring out the window with nothing else to do. Just as he was thinking about getting up to find something to do, he saw someone standing on the roof across from his window again, only this time, the person seemed to be looking in his direction. He was far away, but Gaara could still see him clearly. He didn't look very tall, he wore black from the neck down and had a white maks covering his face that sort of looked like a fox. Gaara was a little surprised to see this person staring in his direction, did he know that he was there? What would he do if he saw that he was noticed by him? Gaara was curious about this person he had never seen before, would he want to be his friend? Just as he thought this, the person on the roof held out his hand. Motioning him to come closer. Gaara was hesitant, the person stopped his hand movement and tilted his head to the side much like a fox would before his hand dropped to the side. Gaara wondered what he would do next when he saw the person turning to leave, "wait!" Gaara jumped up and opened the window, "wa-"

"Sshhh, quiet little one, people are sleeping." Gaara was shocked, someone out his view covered his mouth before he could call out to the person on the roof. Gaara turned his head to see who was covering his mouth and was surprised to see it was the same person he was just looking at. The masked person held a finger in front of his fox-like mask where his mouth would, "don't worry, I won't hurt you, promise."

He hand over Gaara's mouth was removed a second later. Gaara didn't say anything for a long time, too stunned to even spoke. He glanced over at the rooftop again to see that it was empty, he turned back to see the masked person still there, standing on the small space in front of his window."W-who are you?" Gaara finally asked.

"Me? I'm just your neighborhood fox, out for a stroll," said the masked person. "Who are you?" 

Gaara blinked not sure he could believe what was happening right now. Someone was talking, and it was to him! "N-n-nothing...h-how'd you get over here so fast?"

"How?" The masked person made a pose like he was thinking really hard about the answer, "I jumped."

"You...jumped?" Gaara looked back to the roof before looking back at the person, "how? Isn't it too far to jump?"

The person shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at the sky, "not really. I can jump far, and I can jump high. But landing is a little tricky, y'know?" He turned back to Gaara, "would you like to do something fun with me?"

"F-f-fun? W-with me?" Gaara looked at the person as if he had grown a second head, "are...are you sure?"

"Is that a no?" The man asked.

"No, no, I want, I want to," Gaara said, his face broke into a smile. The first happy smile he could remember really having on his face in a very long time.

"Great, come here, I want to introduce you to my friend. Let's go," he held out his hand for the little boy to take. Gaara hesitated for a moment but took hold of his hand, the masked person pulled Gaara out through the window and jumped onto the neighboring roof. "Hold on tight, Gaara," the person said as he made sure to have a good grip on the redhead in his arms before jumping to the next roof.

Gaara opened his eyes, he didn't realize that he closed them until now. When he looked around, he felt like he was flying through the air, he looked back at the masked person, "where are we going?"

The masked person looked down at the little redhead in his arms, he could feel how nervous and excited Gaara was by the way his grip tightened around his neck. "Over here," they stopped on a roof that was far from Gaara's house, the person walked over to the edge and jumped off. They landed on the earth below with a soft thud, he put down Gaara now that they were far enough away from to talk, "you can call me Fox, by the way."

"Fox?" Gaara looked back up at the person now named, Fox, _"like his mask"_ he couldn't help but giggle at the thought. "Okay, I'm Gaara."

Fox couldn't help but think that the sound of Gaara laughing sounded cute. "Okay, Gaara, how would you like to sleep?" 

Gaara stopped giggling, his smile fell as his eyes dropped to the ground. He balled up the edge of his shirt in his hands, "I can't." He couldn't meet Fox's eyes, _"he'll think I'm a monster if he found out."_

Fox stepped closer to Gaara and brought his face up with his hand gently so they were eye to eye. "Don't worry, I won't think you're a monster," he said. He also thought the shocked face Gaara made was cute too. "I came here to help you sleep and not hurt anyone when you do, so, would you like to sleep?"

Gaara couldn't believe his ears. Was he dreaming right now? Wait, no, scratch that, he's never been able to sleep before, so this wasn't a dream. This had to be real, but how could it? "How?" 

Fox carest Gaara's cheek, "I'm just like you." He put a hand over his mask and removed it revealing chilling blue eyes and sunkissed skin, Fox then pulled down his second mask from his face so Gaara could see his whisker marks, "I was the holder of the nine-tailed fox. Ever since I could remember, I was hated by everyone in my village, I couldn't take it so I decided to change somethings. I made a seal that allows me to only keep some of Kyuubi's chakra inside me while the Kyuubi gets to walk around freely."

"Really? But..." Gaara looked away, "mother, would she be able to walk around with me too? I don't want the mean voice to walk around though, he'll hurt someone."

Fox tilted his head to the side trying to figure out what Gaara was telling him. He rubbed his chin as he thought until he got an idea, "Gaara, show me your seal, please."

"M-my...uhm, okay," Gaara blushed a little as he lifted up his shit for Fox to see his stomach. Now that Gaara thought about it, Fox looked to be about the same age as him, _"and he's nice to me. Can we really be friends?"_

"Hmm..." Fox had a serious look on his face as he placed a hand on the soft skin of Gaara's stomach. Gaara giggled, "hn? Uh, sorry, it tickles right?"

Gaara's blush darkened, "a little, but it's okay."

Fox smirked, _"he's really cute, I almost want to eat him up right here. Wait, what am I thinking?"_ He shook his head and focused, "okay," he stood up again, "I know what's going on. I think when they sealed the one-tails in you, they used the wrong seal, they used the seal for an object instead of one for a living person. Because of this, you can't sleep since the seal thinks of you as an object instead of a person, so by sleeping, the seal thinks that you're letting the thing inside out. That's why you're being forced awake all the time, your mental health must have taken quite the hit after all this time, huh?"

Gaara looked at Fox curiously, "so you can fix it so I can sleep again?" Fox nodded, Gaara gasped, "really, I can finally sleep now?"

"Yep, you'll be knocked out cold by the time I'm done, you'll sleep like a baby!" Fox smiled brightly as he took out inkpot and brush, "now, it'll only take a few seconds, okay. Have a seat," Gaara quickly sat down and lifted his shirt for Fox. Fox quickly got to work as he picked up the distant crashing of metal on metal a few buildings away from them, he needed to hurry, he didn't know how long Kurama could hold out against the sand ninjas without drawing attention to himself. Fox drew the seal over Gaara's old seal when he was done stepped back and made a blood clone, he picked up the inkpot and redrew the seal on the clone. Once the seal was finished on both bodies, Fox walked back over to Gaara with the clone, "Gaara, hold his hand for me. " Gaara nodded and held the clones hand, as soon as their hands touched, the clone started to glow, Fox placed his hand on the clone's shoulder and focused. Just like what he did for Kurama, he placed some of his chakra into the clone to help change its form and functions to better suit Shukaku's new form. Short, sandy blond hair that fell down to the base of his neck. Dark blue-green eyes, a round face with soft features, and effeminate body, with a somewhat male-sounding voice. When the transformation, Shukaku stood before the two in his new form, "Gaara, allow me to introduce you to that mean voice you've been hearing all the time." Naruto stated happy with his work, "this is Shukaku."

Shukaku opened his eyes and looked around. The first thing he noticed was the chains that always held him down were now gone. The second he noticed was the pain in his head had also disappeared, and then he noticed Gaara. Looked down at the little redhead that looked back at him with curious eyes. He smirked, "hey runt, looks like we're finally free of each other," he let go of Gaara's hand as he put both his hand on his own hips and looked at his new form. "Hn, not bad kid, not bad, but couldn't you have made me a little more manly? I look like a girl like this," he stated turning to face the blond, "you're Kurama's kid, aren't you?"

"Hn, and you're rude." Naruto sighed, "yeah, I'm with Kurama, and you should be thankful."

"What! To that slut, why?" Shukaku started with a roll of his eyes, but he soon regretted his words when he felt a murderous aura behind him. 

"I'm a what now, Shukaku?" Kurama was standing behind Shukaku's new form holding a bloody kunai, "you wanna say that again, my deer otouto? I don't think I heard you right?"

"Kyaa! Kurama, when did you get there!" Shukaku jumped behind Naruto for protection, "it's been a while since we've seen each other, nii-chan, um, please don't kill me."

Naruto sighed, "would you two knock it off, we still have a job to do. If you've forgotten, Kurama, I won't forgive you."

Kurama paused his intimidating march towards his little, he pouted, "how could I?" He took off his mask and looked down at Gaara, "hey there cutie-pie, I'm Kurama, did my kit do anything pervy to you while I was busy taking care of the trash?" He turned sharp eyes to sunny blond, "I'll make sure to teach him a lesson later if he did anything inappropriate to you."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the human fox, "who's the real pervert here?"

"Wha-so you did d-" Kurama had a sly smile on his face as he started but Naruto gave him a swift chop over the head to shut him up.

"No, stop talking nonsense in front of Gaara, you'll him the wrong ideas" Naruto stated. He held out a hand to Gaara, "now then," he smiled at the blushing boy, why don't we get you home?"

"Home? A-are you leaving?" Gaara asked worriedly.

"No way, I can't leave yet, I've got a job to do. Besides, I told you we would be doing something fun together, right?" Naruto patted Gaara's head lovingly, "you'll be getting sleepy soon, so it's best to get you back to your room so you can sleep safely there. I wouldn't want you getting sick because you were stuck outside all night."

Gaara smiled brightly, "okay. We can play together until I fall asleep right?" Naruto nodded, "okay, let's go!" He held Naruto's hand and pulled up along as he found his way back home.

An hour after they all made it back to Gaara's house, Gaara couldn't stop telling Naruto everything he could about just about anything he could think of. While the two talked, Kurama and Shukaku talked about old times, what life was like for them inside their seals. By the time the sun was getting ready to rise, Gaara had finally started to fall asleep. This was the first time that Gaara didn't actually want to go to sleep, "I don't want to sleep because I don't want you to leave," he said sadly.

Naruto placed a blanket over Gaara, who was falling asleep in a pile of teddy bears. He looked so cute Naruto couldn't help but be jealous of the bears. "Don't worry Gaara, I'll be here when you wake up, I won't leave without you knowing, I promise, and I always keep my promises. Okay?"

Gaara frowned a little, his eyes were getting too heavy to keep open much longer. All the years of sleepless nights were washing over him now. "Okay," he whispered as he let his eyes close.

Naruto smiled, he leaned in close to Gaara's ear, "hey, Gaara...My real name is Naruto." He whispered before kissing the redhead's cheek lightly, "sweet dreams." Gaara smiled in his sleep and turned on his side to hug one of the large teddy bears that were placed near him. He imagined it was Naruto as he fell into a deep, blissful sleep. Naruto was regretful to leave Gaara's side now, but the guards would have already woken up the Kazakage and notified him about their appearance tonight. They had to leave right away. He stood up and walked out of the room with his mask on, he found Kurama and Shukaku, "ready? We have to lay low for a little while," the two nodded and they disappeared from the house before anyone noticed them.

* * *

**Later that day**

It's been one week since that night and Gaara is enjoying his newfound freedom to sleep whenever he wants very much. He would sleep for long hours at a time trying to catch up on the time he missed out. No one really noticed until Yashimaru came to get Gaara for breakfast and found him fast asleep in a pile of teddy bears. Yashimaru tried to wake him to see if he was dead or not and almost got pierced by the sand that always guarded the boy. Word spread to the Kazakage soon after and Raza almost had a heart attack after hearing that his youngest son was asleep but no monster was attacking the village. Raza couldn't believe it and wanted to find out for himself what was happening, he abandoned his work and rushed to Gaara's room to see that his son, in fact, was deep in sleep, and happily so. The news spread around the ninja ranks like wildfire and soon the whole village knew what was going on, but that didn't change people's opinions about the boy very much. So what he could sleep now? They still thought he was a monster after the first night. Raza wanted to find out what was going on with his son's new condition, but like before, no one could get close to Gaara while he was awake, or when he's sleeping. When Gaara woke up later that night, he found a bunch of people in his room, the Kazakage, Tamari, Kanorou, Lady Chiyo, and some others, but no Naruto. Or Shukaku. He was worried that Naruto actually did leave without telling, he was beginning to feel betrayed, but then he felt a familiar presence in the room. When Gaara looked up, he spotted Shukaku lurking in the shadows of the room, this reassured him and his happiness was restored.

It wasn't a dream. 

He wasn't betrayed.

"Gaara? How are you able to sleep now?" Raza asked sternly, he had to know.

Gaara's attention was brought back to the other people in the room. He frowned, "that's none of your business, Lord Kazakaga," Gaara smirked as he threw off his blanket and ran to the bathroom. The Kazakaga was so surprised to hear Gaara use such a tone in his presence that he didn't even bother stopping him. After that day, Gaara would sleep just like any other person would and no one knew how it happened, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Besides, Gaara wasn't as violent towards people with his sand anymore, he didn't gain any friends in the village, but he had a few outsides of it, and that was enough for him. When no one was looking, Shukaku would play with Gaara, they would go off to train together for hours without anyone being able to find him unless he wanted to be found. He couldn't leave the village without anyone noticing, so Raza decided to leave him be, he also stopped all assassination attempts on Gaara's life since he wasn't killing random villagers anymore. In fact, Gaara wasn't seen walking around the village as much as before so people started to think that he was less of a threat now. Some villagers even wondered, if all they needed to do to tame the monster they all thought Gaara to be was let him some sleep, then why didn't anyone give him a name before? A lot of lives might have been saved back then. During the week of Naruto's stay in Suna, he would visit Gaara and play with him often until it was time for him to leave.

* * *

**One week later**

"When will I see you again?" Gaara asked sadly.

"Don't worry, the Hokage has informed me before I left that I can take a trip back here around this time next year," Naruto replied as he stroked Gaara's hair.

"Really? You promised?" Gaara asked hopefully.

Naruto nodded, "yep, I promise, and you know what I say about promises!" Gaara nodded, happy to know that he'll see his friend again, "in the meantime, we can write to each other. If you have anything you want to tell me, or you just feel like writing, put it in a letter and send it to me, I'll right back as soon as I can, okay?"

Gaara nodded his head, "okay, I promise."

"And remember to train hard." Naruto said, "the next time I visit, I want to see how strong you are. Maybe you'll surpass me, hehehe," he smiled brightly.

Gaara giggled, "I promise to train really hard, Naruto, I won't let you down-" he was interrupted when he suddenly found Naruto's lips on his.

Naruto stepped back to see the stunning face Gaara was making, he scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

"NARUTO!!" Kurama smacked the blond boy in the back of his head with a punch, he was a little jealous, "how could you? That was probably his first kiss!!"

Naruto pouted, "what, he was so cute I couldn't help it!" He rubbed to spot that Kurama hit, "well, anyway, what's done is done." He looked back to Gaara to see the boy's face turning the same color as his hair, Naruto laughed nervously as Shukaku stood behind Gaara with a very 'protective big brother' sort of look on his face. "Riiight~ Well I'm off, see you later, Gaara!" Naruto jumped off the side of the wall the had been meeting on with Kurama shouting profanities at him and trying to hit him again.

Meanwhile, Gaara was stuck to the spot he was standing as he softly touched his lips. "A...kiss..." he whispered as he watched the two Konoha ninjas disappear in the distance.

Shukaku exploded, "Why that damn Naruto! I'm grateful he freed me from that fucked up seal, but-but-but how could-HOW DARE HE-"

"Shukaku?" Gaara turned to his former ward.

The angry tanuki paused his angry rambling to look down at his former container, "huh?"

"What's a kiss me?" Gaara asked innocently.

"..." Shukaku couldn't speak, Gaara's innocent eyes were too much for him. How could he corrupt such an innocent person? Just then, he got a bright idea, "why don't you ask your father.

"Hm...The Kazakaga should be smart enough to know something about it." Gaara nodded, "okay, I'll go ask him now!" 

"Yes, that's-wait what?!" Shukaku turned back to Gaara to see that he was already running off to the Kage tower. He shrugged, "whatever, not my problem." 

Gaara ran over to the Kazakaga's tower, he didn't care if his so-called father was in a meeting now nor not. He wanted to know. Gaara burst down the door with his sand, Raza's head jerked up at the sudden intrusion when he saw his youngest. "Gaara, what is the meaning-"

"What's a kiss?"

.

.

.

**To be continued.**


	6. Bandits

**Konoha**

It didn't take long for Naruto and Kurama to get back to Fire Country. With their speed, they managed to make it to Suna in less than a day. On the way back, however, Kurama decided that he wanted to stay out of the village for a little while longer. "Hey Naruto, I'm bored, let's have some fun," Kurama exclaimed as he latched onto Naruto's arm. 

Naruto Paused and looked back at Kurama. He was suspicious of the fox, no doubt he wanted to try out his new body. They were halfway to the village, they left Suna early in the morning and it would only take them ten more minutes to get back to Konoha. He was wary of the fox's actions, but he didn't really want to return to the village too soon either. He was curious about what the fox had planned though, he shrugged his shoulders, "fine, we can rest in the town up ahead." Naruto pointed to the village that was starting to come into view in the distance, "we can spend a couple of hours there resting before heading back to give our report."

Kurama looked back at Naruto with a frown, "what, only a couple hours? Why not make it a day, you know we can get back to the village in like five minutes, right?" 

"Ten, actually, we can't back to fast or else the Hokage's gonna wonder how we surveilled a person and make it to and from a village in no more than one week. Normally it would take a ninja team of two about a day and a half to get there, but we're not normal ninjas, and he knows that." Naruto explained.

Kurama smirked, "great, so we'll spend the night in that town as a reward for completing our first mission together outside the village. We can also make up some story about Gaara being his usual hotel stell for the first two days and then going under some mystory change one the third because of some unknown cause. That's basically what the Kazakaga's going to hear from Shukaku later anyway."

"I suppose..." Naruto stated as he slowed his pace to a casual walk but paused. "Wait," he turned to Kurama, "Shukaku will?" Kurama nodded, "what exactly did you guys plan behind my back when I wasn't looking?"

Kurama let go of Naruto's arm and started to run towards the upcoming town's entrance. "You'll have to ask him yourself when you write to Gaara later," the fox boy giggled as he left Naruto behind.

Naruto frowned, "damn fox," he sighed. "Should I really have let him out of the seal when I did? He's kind of annoying now that he gets to run around whenever he wants...ah well, it's already done..." he started following Kurama into the town. He took off his mask before he was spotted, he made sure that Kurama removed his mask as well so that they weren't identified. They were wearing tan cloaks that covered their ninja outfits so he wasn't too worried about people finding out about them by their clothes so soon. However, they needed to change clothes, if they were going to be taking a short vacation in a civilian town, they needed to blend in well enough so no attention is drawn to them. He should probably put up a gen jutsu on his hair and whiskers too since they were very noticeable when you look at him. Naruto found Kurama waiting in front of the inn, it looked like the fox shared his idea of putting up a genjutsu on themselves to blend in. Even though Kushina was said to have come from a clan of redheads, that didn't make the color and less noticeable. Plus, Kurama's hair was a different kind of red than Naruto's so-called mother. Uzumaki hair is a bright red that was stunning and stood out, sure, but Kurama's hair looked like literal flames, it was a stunning crimson red that Naruto found slightly breath-taking when he stared at it as they ran. The silk-like texture left Kurama's hair looking soft and shiny. Yet, at the moment, Kurama changed the color of his hair to a platinum blond, although the texture stayed the same. He also changed the color of his stunning amber-gold eyes to a light blue shade, Naruto stopped in front of Kurama with a frown on his face. _"Did I...maybe, make him too pretty? It's a little distracting to look at him now,"_ he thought to himself.

Kurama smiled at him with confidence, "you ready to go in, Naru-chan?" 

"...Sure," Naruto reached his hand out and gently held a lock of Kurama's now blond hair. Letting the stand slide through his fingers like a waterfall, each stand fell, or flowed, back into place smoothly. 

Kurama was taken aback by Naruto's actions, his cheeks tinted pink a little as the blond played with his hair. He smirked, "oi, are you trying to tell me something, Naru-chan?" He asked pulling the blond out of his thoughts. Now that Kurama was looking, Naruto had changed his hair from the bright, sunshine color he was used to seeing, into a deep black like the midnight sky. His blue eyes were switched to light green shade but still held an icy feel too them. 

"Hm, what?" Naruto snapped back to reality at the sound of Kurama's voice. "Yeah, let's go," he walked into the in with his disguise firmly in place. Even though it was only a genjutsu, Kurama's chakra was able to make it real enough that they wouldn't be easily found out. He heard Kurama giggling behind him as they entered the establishment. He ignored it as they walked up to the counter, the owner welcomed them and asked what he could help them with. "We would like a room for the night, my friend and I are traveling to meet our parents in the next town over and wanted to rest here before meeting them," Naruto stated as he took out his wallet. "How much for one room?"

The owner, an elderly man, smiled warmly at the two youngsters. "Oh my, the two of you alone? Why isn't there a guardian with you?" He stated worriedly, "oh, one room will be ten ryo."

"Oh, that's because we snuck out, but don't worry, we were trained in self-defense so we won't be taken hostage easily," Naruto explained as he placed the money on the counter.

The owner sweatdropped, "really? But still, a couple of young kids like you shouldn't be traveling by yourselves at night like this. It gets dangerous around these parts at night, now especially with all the bandit attacks lately." The man took out a room key and handed it to the raven-haired boy.

"Thank you," Naruto took the key, but he was curious, "bandits? Are they frequent this time of year?" 

"Uh, no, not usually," the owner started but got a worried look on his face. "But, ever since a few weeks ago, there has been one group of bandits that seemed to settled somewhere nearby. I'm not sure what they're thinking or why, but they keep coming into the town at night and causing all sorts of terror. Oh, but I don't want to worry you two when you're all lone, just make sure you don't travel at night and get to your home safely."

Naruto couldn't help but feel a grandfatherly vibe coming off of this old man. He didn't usually get involved in civilian affairs, mainly because the civilians around him are trash-humans. Then again, he just met this man and he seemed nice enough so he didn't want this kindness to be ruined with such a worry, "no, it's okay, maybe we can help. As I said, we were both trained to fight and defend ourselves," he reassured the old man, "please tell me."

Kurama walked overseeing the contemplative look on the innkeeper's face. "You might as well tell him, he's curious enough to ask and won't stop until you do. It's a little brat in that way."

The innkeeper sighed, seeing that he couldn't change the mind of these two. Although he didn't think that they could really do much of anything if he told them, they could try to help, or maybe they have connections with someone that could help? Whatever the case, the old man gave in and told them everything. "Well, alright, about two weeks ago, a group of bandits settled in the lands, usually they don't do anything major to us, just walk through threateningly, the usual things that people like them do. Nothing more than that, so the village chief had sent out word to the hidden village of this country a few days ago since we couldn't take it anymore. Then they started to get worse, just yesterday night, a girl went missing when she was sleeping over at one of her friend's house. Then they kidnapped two more children last night as well, so I'm telling you both, don't let yourselves get caught by them. Regardless if you're from this village or not, there's no telling what they are willing to do if they catch youngers like you walking about alone at night. Stay inside tonight, both of you, it's for your own good."

Naruto listened to the innkeeper's story, the way his voice was filled with genuine worry made Naruto feel touched. He's never heard such a voice before, and it was directed at him. He smiled, "that settles it then, we'll take care of it then," he waved to the innkeeper, "thanks for the room mister, take care!" 

"Hm? Oh, yes, your welcome, huh? W-wait, what?" The old man could have sworn he heard the raven-haired boy say he was going to take care of it, was that just in his head or something? "Where are you two going?" 

Naruto was already walking away from the counter to find their room, "to our room. See ya later, mister," he called out before disappearing behind the corner.

"Oh, is that so? Okay then," he turned to the plan girl that was with him, "you two take care then."

Kurama nodded, "okay, thank you, mister. I'll make sure that he doesn't get into any trouble," he waved goodbye to the owner as he ran to catch up to Naruto.

The owner waved to the girl, "what good kids."

* * *

When Naruto and Kurama got to their room, they found that it was a single room with a queen-sized bed. More than enough space for the two of them to sleep comfortably. Naruto took off his cloak and took out a storage scroll, from the scroll he pulled out two sets of clothes and placed them on the bed. "What are you thinking kit?" Kurama asked, he already knew, but he wanted Naruto to say it anyway.

Naruto smirked, "I'm going to have some run with those bandits. I've been meaning to try out a new move on someone, but so far, I couldn't do it without getting caught. Now's a perfect time, I'll kill two birds with one stone."

"Ooo~ this sounds like fun, okay, count me in!" Kurama cheered.

"Thought so," Naruto chuckled, "who knows, we might get ourselves some supporters or something after this. But only time will tell," he put away his scroll and stretched his arms, "let's take a bath and rest first. I want to make sure that we thoroughly make use of those bandits before heading back to the village."

"I like the way you think!" Kurama took off his cloak as well and followed Naruto to the bathroom.

During this time of day, the bath was mostly empty except for one or two guests. They changed out of their clothes and took a long relaxing bath together, the water was so warm and relaxing that Kurama didn't bother with his previous plans of attacking Naruto while his guard was down. It had been years since he was able to fully enjoy himself freely like this, so he wasn't going to waste this moment, besides, they had plenty of time to do that kind of thing later. Naruto was happy that Kurama didn't go through with whatever he was thinking, he could tell by the fox's face what he was thinking of doing and he wasn't in the mood to try such a thing so soon. He wanted to hold off for a while still, it was only ten after all. With that said, to ensure that Kurama didn't change his mind later, Naruto volunteered to wash Kurama's hair for him, Kurama agreed because he was already enjoying himself so much. Naruto, on the other hand, just wanted to continue playing with Kurama's hair, he's never felt anything so smooth and soft before in his whole life. It became Naruto's secret pleasure to wash Kurama's hair. After their bath, the two enjoyed a large meal in the dining room with some of the other guests coming in for lunch, and a well-deserved nap until it got dark out. When the time came, Naruto and Kurama got dressed in the clothes that Naruto took out of his scroll and snuck out of their room. They moved like shadows in the night as they searched the area for action when suddenly "AAHHH!" A scream rang out in the silent air of the night, Naruto and Kurama looked at each other, one thought to go through their heads as they rushed over to the sound.

It's them.

Just like the wind, the two ninjas blew past the two guys that were trying to kidnap a little girl. The little girl had pale skin and jet black hair, dark eyes, and the disposition of someone who grew up with money surrounding them. Naruto didn't like those kinds of kids that much, but her scream did make it easier for him to find her, so he let it go. He gave Kurama hand signals on what to do and they acted out their plan in silence. One of the bandits that were trying to kidnap this little girl found his head detached from his shoulders a second before his large body came crashing down to the ground. The man's head rolled away from the body as soon as it fell and blood started squirting out of the cleanly sliced neck covering the terrified girl in the crimson liquid. The girl let out another scream when she was dropped to the floor by the man since he was carrying her over his shoulder as she struggled to get away, but she let out an even louder, more terrifying scream once she saw what became of her kidnapper. Kurama suddenly appeared behind her and delivered a swift chop to the back of her neck to knock her out and cut off the noise. They wanted her to be found by the townsfolk but didn't want to be found with her, while Kurama handed the girl and bandit one, Naruto made his way over to bandit two. Naruto appeared in front of the bandit as he fell to his knees in front of him, the man had a shocked look on his face as he looked Naruto in the eye. "I'm going to ask you one time, where is your leader and why are you kidnapping children?"

"L-li-like I'll tell you!" The bandit shouted at the blond and spit in his face.

Naruto looked at the spot that the man's spit landed. Without looking, Naruto swung his blade downwards and the man let out a scream, he turned back to see the man was now bowing at his feet as he held the spot that his right arm used to be. The arm was lying next to the man as the spot it used to be gushed out blood like a waterfall. The man's scream was piercing the night sky, drawing more and more attention by the second. They needed to wrap this up, "look what you did, you should have answered my questions. Now, where's your boss and the rest of your group? Talk now or else your other arm will be next. Or maybe..." Naruto knelt down next to the man, "or should I go down lower? I could take a leg, or perhaps something else that's more important to you?"

The man seemed to get the picture that Naruto was implying. Swallowing his pride, he gave in, "a-a-a-are r-r-right, the...t-the boss is held up on the edge of the forest. H-he to-told us to g-go into town to get s-some more stock for the c-customers."

"Stalk? You mean the kids you've been kidnapping?" Naruto stated with a bit of anger in his voice, his killing intent was starting to grow, he normally wouldn't let it out so easily, but he wanted to get all the information he can before people started to show up. "What are you doing with them? Who are your customers?"

"W-w-we..." the man could sense Naruto's killing intent, it was so intense that it made him piss himself. He couldn't hold back his tears, he was losing a lot of blood fast and he really felt like he was going to die now if he didn't get help soon. "W-we use t-them as parts...o-or s-s-sell them to perverts that-"

"Enough!" Naruto stood up to his full height as he looked down on the man before him. "You filth that did such a thing? Why? I don't understand, but that doesn't matter. I can see that you don't deserve to live!" Naruto lifted his dagger for another strike.

The man lifted his head up to look at Naruto, tears streaming down his face. "No! Please, I have a family," it wasn't exactly a lie. He did rape one of the older girls in their cells a couple months ago and she was about to give birth any day now. The boss didn't sell her off at first since no one wanted to buy her because she was pregnant, but now his boss wanted to sell off the child she was going to give birth to. So he used that as an excuse to gain mercy form his kid, he may have been small, but his skill was great if he would sneak up behind two grown men and chop of his arm without even batting an eye. "Please don't kill me! I have a family!"

Naruto looked deep into the man's eyes for a long second. The man thought that the blond was going to let him go after that, but Naruto crushed his hopes into dust. "I'll send them to you afterward," the man's shocked face was frozen like that as Naruto's blade disconnected his head from his body. The head rolled away from the body to stop next to Naruto's feet, the blond was disgusted Not by the sight, but by the man's story, the nerve of this man. So the boy kicked the severed head into the stone wall a few feet away from them. The force of his kick left a clear dent in the severed head and while the impact crushed the skull causing the head to fall into a bloody mess on the ground near the wall. Now there was a clear point of impact where the head hit the wall outlined in blood. With that done, Naruto turned back to Kurama, "let's go." They both disappeared from the area quickly just seconds before people started showing up and the area was filled with noise, people shouting, and guards were being called. Naruto and Kurama were standing in the nearby trees watching the whole ordeal, "guess that chicks some nobleman's daughter or something. How boring, let's leave." 

"You're in a mood tonight. Was it because of what that man said?" Kurama asked as they ran towards the edge of the forest.

"Does it matter? The nights still young, and I've got a lot of steam to let off," Naruto stated.

Kurama watched him out of the corner of his eye and smirked, _"oh, he's really mad, huh,"_ he turned his eyes forward, _"I'm sure to witness something fun now."_

They made it to the bandit's camp. The members of the group were walking around casually, most were laughing, somewhere singing, all were drunk. And all were male. Naruto glared down at them with contempt, he saw how happy the men were that were drinking while not even two feet away, there were cries of children hidden away in a nearby tent. "Kurama, take care of the kids, I'll handle the guys in charge here."

Kurama pretends to pout about his decision, "awe, Naru-chan, but I wanna have some fun too!" 

Naruto turned ice-cold eyes his way, "you'll have your turn next time. I'm just letting off some steam, understand?" 

_"Oh, I was right, he really is truly pissed, I should stay out of the way and watch the show."_ Kurama smiled happily, "you got it, kit," he turned away and jumped away from the branch they were standing on. The clothes that Naruto had them wear before leaving the inn had a special seal on it. It looked like a regular ANBU uniform, minus the vest, and an added hood, the seal that was placed on it allowed the wearer to blend in with their surroundings more effectively than just concealing their chakra. It took next to nothing to active the seal which made it easy to use less energy on concealment. Just in case, however, since the seal is still in its testing phase, Naruto had them wear their ANBU mask to hide their faces so that if the seal somehow wasn't able to cover their faces, it would already be covered. Kurama sneck over to the tent where all the screams were coming from and waited for Naruto's signal before going in. Naruto watched Kurama get into position from his hiding spot before making his move. He pulled up his hoody, pulled on his fingerless gloves, and made sure that his mask was secured in place before jumping down into the middle of the camp.

"Huh? Who's that?" One guy asked, his words were slurred and hard to understand.

"Oi, who let one of the brats out of their cages!" Another guy shouted.

The was a man standing next to the spot that Naruto jumped down into. He was startled by the sudden appearance, but he was so drunk that he couldn't tell right from left. He chuckled, "whatever, let's have some fun babe," he struggled to get up to his feet and staggered closer to Naruto. The blond glanced back at the man for a moment before surveying the rest of his surroundings, others were starting to close in on him one by one. He smirked under the mask. 

"I hope you guys don't mind me crashing your party," Naruto took out his dagger and disappeared from his spot. The men around him looked around confused until to see what was happening. Everything got quiet until suddenly there was a painfilled scream that ran through the air, everyone turned to see one of their guys on the floor holding his leg. Or the spot where his leg should be, blood was spraying everywhere as the ban cried out and rolled around on the floor screaming that his leg hurt.

The leader of the bandits left his tent when he heard the screaming. He looked around to see what was going on as he ran over to the guy who just got his leg cut off. "What's going on, Jin Kain?" He asked, "what happened to your leg?!" He could see that the man on the floor was clearly in pain, not because he simply hurt his leg, but because the leg was now gone. He looked around the camp for answers when another scream pierced the air before it was cut off, the leader turned to the sound to see one of his men fall to the ground with a pool of blood pouring out of his body. "What the?" He started running towards the other guy on the floor when he noticed that the screams from the first guy were now silent. He turned back to see why, it seemed that the man who got his leg cut off was stabbed in the throat, ending his life quicker than before. "What is going on here?" The bandit leader put his hand on his sword ready to catch whoever it was that killed his members, he was also starting to wonder where the other two guys he sent off to the two went off to. It wasn't like them to come back so late, the leader searched the camp with his eyes anxiously, "who's there? Show yourselves! Now!" He waited for a while as he looked around to see, it seemed much quieter now that he was getting ready to face off with the enemy. Too quiet. A chill went down his back, he quickly turned around and came face to face with a stranger that was about the size of a ten-year-old dressed in black clothes and a mask. He sneered at the kid, "who are you, did you do this?" He unsheaths his sword and aimed it at the child who seemed unmoved by his actions. "A tough guy huh? Well not for long, I'll make sure to make good use of you once I'm done, you'll beg for death soon." 

Naruto looked up at the bandit leader, it seemed that he had yet to notice his handy work. "What about your men?" He asked simply.

"My what?" The bandit leader looked behind the boy and his eyes widened in shock. Laying just behind the masked child were the dismembered bodies of his group. Some were missing limbs, heads, and were covered in blood. He couldn't believe that he didn't see when all of this was happening. When had it happened? He was sure that it had only been a few minutes since he was coming out of his tent. _"What, could a child be capable of such a thing....unless,"_ he thought as he held his sword up to the boy with both hands. He was going to get answers, "where's your accomplice?" 

Naruto tilted his head like a fox, "accomplice?" He asked innocently, "what do you mean?" The bandit leader was a tall man with many muscles, this much was true, and Naruto was sure that he used his scarred face and height to intimidate people wherever he went. Too bad Naruto wasn't intimidated by height alone, "I don't know what you're talking about, I did all this myself."

"You?" The tall man looked back at the bodies that were laying around him, bloodied and mutilated. He didn't hear anyone of them make a sound besides the ones that drew him out of the ten and distracted him. He couldn't believe that this was all the work of only one child. "N-no! No way!" The leader started to shake as he tried to keep his hands steady, "there's no way, you're not capable of such a thing, you're a kid!"

Naruto sighed, "you know, guys like you always say the dumbest things, don't you?" He shrugged, "but I guess that's only in your nature as idiots, isn't it?" 

"What you say?" The man gritted his teeth and started charging toward the boy, "I'll make you pay for this, you demon!"

Naruto's eyes turned red under the mask, giving him a demon look to him. He let out his killing intent that seemed to freeze the man in place, "that's what I wanted to hear. The demon did this, the demon did that. The demon is going to pay, on and on, you people just don't understand, do you?" He took out his dagger and smirked evilly at the now shivering man, "I wasn't born a demon..." he took a step towards the man causing him to flinch backward. He was too scared to do anything, in this second alone, Naruto disappeared from the man's sights and appeared behind him. The man was startled at how quick this boy's movements were, his blood ran cold in his veins as he heard Naruto's voice behind him, "it's you all, who made me like this." In the blink of an eye, the man's body squirted blood before falling into a pile of bloody pieces, Naruto watched the pieces with slight glee in his eyes as they turned back to their ice blue color. The blond turned away from the pile and walked over to the ten were the victims was held in their cages, "how's it going in here, Kurama?"

Kurama turned around from what he was doing and smirked, "that was a fun little show you put on there, Naruto-chan. I was very impressed by it, although, I will have to say that your speed could be a tad bit faster during the 'Body Splitter' but everything else was splendid." 

Naruto chuckled, "so you say, but I know that was your favorite part, wasn't it?" 

Kurama shrugged, "I won't tell." 

"Ah, such a tease," Naruto walked over to his supposed apprentice as he looked around the tent. All the cages were open and the children were sitting on the ground, hugging each other and crying. He counted about sixteen people in total around the ages of five to fifteen, most of the teen were girls that looked to have been raped by their captures There were a few boys around his age too, the youngest child there looked to be about a five-year-old girl with a familiar shade of red hair and violet eyes. Naruto turned to the girl, kneeling down to her eye level as she backed away from him. Clearly, her treatment here made her not so trusting towards others outside of those who were also held captive, "what's your name?" The girl cowered behind one of the older boy's near her, the boy in question looked to be an Uchiha. Naruto remembered seeing a report of how a mother from the Uchiha clan was ambushed on her way back to the village after visiting some relatives in a neighboring town. On her way back, some bandits tried to rob and rape her, but she was just able to fight them back after releasing a flair to get help since the village wasn't that far away for it not to be seen. By the time help arrived, the woman was passed out and most of her valuables she was traveling with, as well as her son, was missing. That was about four years ago now from what he remembered, the boy from that case would be around six now. Naruto turned to the boy, "what's her name?"

"Um, I don't know, those guys would always call her 'Little Red'," the boy explained. He looked up at Naruto's mask curiously, "are you a leaf ninja?"

The other kids turned to look at the two people that saved them after that. Naruto nodded, "yep, I am. I'm a special leaf ninja, and I'm going to help everyone get back home safe."

"Are you really a ninja?" A girl, who looked to be about fifteen and was heavily pregnant, asked, "aren't you a little young?"

Naruto could see that this girl was probably a civilian. Now that he was looking at her closely, she had some similarities to the innkeeper he saw earlier. "O suppose you could say that since I am ten only," he stated as he got back up to his feet and took a scroll out of his pack.

"Ten!?" The girl stated in surprise, "how could a ten-year-old be a ninja? I thought ninjas start at twelve."

Naruto shrugged, "it just turned out like that. For me, I'm not in a normal situation, so I had to grow up faster than most." He handed some bandages and some medical supplies to Kurama, "go around and treat any wounds you find, when you're done, we'll state getting these guys back to their homes."

"My my, Mr. Bleeding Heart strikes again, ne?" Kurama teased him as he took the supplies and went off to do his job before Naruto could say anything else.

Naruto turned back to the three before him, the little with red hair was still looking at him strangely. He couldn't help but think that her hair was a bit strange, red hair came from the Uzumaki clan, but he was told that the Uzumaki clan was wiped out sometime after the Third Shinobi World War. The only person he's seen with red hair was Kushina, so how was it that this girl had it? His curiosity was reaching new levels, he wanted to know, but he didn't want to push her since she didn't seem to trust him. Naruto took out another scroll from his back, this time, he took out some food to give to the kids, a third scroll he carried held blankets and he also shared them with everyone. Once everyone was taken care of, he started asking where everyone was from so he could return them home, most of them told him and it looked like all the kids came from villages within Fire country. Naruto was curious so he tried to get out some more information from them, the more he talked to them, the more he started to think that their stories sounded like another case he came across last year. There were reports of a group of bandits traveling around taking kids to sell on the black market. He didn't know if the group of bandits he took out earlier was the group that was mentioned in the report, he would need to go back to HQ to check it out later. In that case, he would need to take everyone back to the village with him so that he could have others confirm their stories as well so that they could find all find their way back home. However, the thing that was really bothering Naruto a the moment was the girl, she had yet to tell him anything about her village or town. She couldn't even tell him about her parents or what her home looked like, Naruto was wondering how long this girl had really been kept by the bandits if she couldn't remember something like her own mother's face. After thinking things over carefully, he stepped onto a crate that was left in the center of the foom where everyone could see him. "Everyone, please listen, I want to get everyone back to their homes, but first, I need to take you all back to Konoha." Naruto explained, "there, you will be able to get help going back home after you've recovered," the tent was filled with murmurs of the kids happily cheered about being able to return home.

Naruto hopped off the crate as Kurama walked over to him, "so, you're taking them back to the village? Why, when you could make clones to bring them back yourself."

Naruto folded his arm, "no, it's not about bringing them back to the village. There's something missing from this picture, I don't know what it is, but I feel like I'm missing something."

"Oh, what could that be?" Kurama asked with a curious smile.

"The bandits, they were normal guys. No ronins among the lot of them, so I can't say that they stand out more than any other group like them, but..." Naruto paused, "the fact that they kidnapped kids to sell on the black market? That doesn't fit, something else has to be going on, when we get back, I want to take a good look at the reports."

"Ohoho, so the village pariah has become the village's secret investigator?" Kurama was excited by this new turn of events, "why to do something for some kids you don't even know?"

Naruto shrugged as he was still deep in thought. "I guess, once someone sees the darkness, they can better understand the work of a shadow...or something like that."

Kurama put a hand on his hip and sighed, "you are but a child at heart, but your mind is so dark. Will you ever be the same again?"

Naruto turned away from Kurama as he started for the exit of the tent, "time will tell."

* * *

**The following day**

Naruto and Kurama made clones to go back to the inn to return the key they used and check out. While the originals made their way back to the Konoha with the newly freed victims of the bandits. They were allowed to go through because the gate guards knew Fox's mask and didn't want to get in his way. They heard many stories about him from their friends in ANBU and they were never pretty, this was the first time that they were seeing him in person. They were surprised to see Fox bringing a bunch of kids and teens back with him from his mission, they wanted to ask why, but they were sure that they would find out later through the rumor mill. Once inside the village, Naruto created a clone to go ahead of them to tell the Hokage what was going on. As they passed through the town, Weasel found the sight interested and decided to question his friend. Over the years Naruto had been in ANBU, he was able to help Itachi with his overwhelming loyalty to his clan by agreeing to take him on as a partial apprentice last year. Even though he was much younger than Itachi, Itachi still respected him as a superior, "Fox, what's going on with this pared?" Weasel asked as he landed next to Fox.

"I happened to stumble upon a bandit camp on my way back from my mission to Suna. They pissed me off a little, so I took them out, nothing to tell really," Fox replied in his usual nonchalant way.

"Yeah? Then what's with all these guys?" Weasel nodded behind him indicating to the children walking around in tan cloaks following Fox.

"Oh them? They were kidnapped by the bandits, so I'm bringing them to the Hokage to return home."

"The bandits are all in pieces then?" Weasel asked as they neared the door to enter the tower.

"Maybe," Fox held the door open for the group to enter the building before walking inside himself. 

Weasel shook his head, he turned to the other boy he hadn't seen before. "I assume you're his other apprentice then?" 

Kurama nodded, "yep, that's me. Don't worry, you'll get used to him." He stated as the two entered the building and followed Fox, "eventually.

Naruto instructed the kids and teens to sit in the waiting area to wait for him while he and Kurama went up to the Hokage's office. Just like when they left, Naruto and Kurama entered the room silently, "Fox and apprentice reporting, Lord Hokage."

Minato turned around from his filing cabinet with a stack of papers in his arms, "good, you may stand, Fox." As soon as Fox and Kurama were on their feet, Minato shoved the papers into his arms, "I just got the report from your clone, and I must say I'm impressed. However, did you really have to bring all of them here? You could have called for reinforcement to help take them back home."

"Yes, I could have done so, however, there were some matters about how they were kidnapped that bothered me. I wanted to make sure of a few things before allowed them all to return back home sir." Fox replied professionally on the matter, "by the way, what are these papers?"

"They're for T&I. Make sure that Ibiki gets them when you drop those kids off for him to question," Minto responded as he made his way back to his desk. "I would go myself, but I have to fill out a new stack of submission papers for the because you brought them here unannounced. Oh, and I also put the adoption papers along with your certificate, your apprentice's rank evaluation, and building request form."

Fox looked at his apprentice confussed before turning back to the Hokage who was grumbling something menacing to his paper as he wrote on it. "Uh, certificate and building request form, sir?" 

Minato turned a glare on the young ANBU captain, "yes! Since you decided to bring all sixteen of them here, if it turns out that they no longer have homes to return to, then you have to take the responsibility. Anyone who doesn't have a home to go back to will be staying in your care until they are old enough to take care of themselves legally! I'll already send you're clone off with the other half of your request form to have you entered into the system. They form will allow you to purchase or build any suitable building you need to properly take care of those kids. As for the certificate, since I know you're no were near the legal age to adopt anyone, that will give you a free pass to take in anyone in that group that is younger than you. And since I'm so busy with all these submission papers, you're going to have to fill out your apprentice's rank eval form yourself and turn it into the ANBU HQ by the end of the day along with your report. Is that understood?"

Naruto could see how pissed off Minato was at the additional paperwork on his desk, it wasn't really at him. Naruto could also see the tears building up at the corners of the blond kage's eyes, he understood that because of his position as captain, he couldn't place the blame on anyone else or else it would look like was lazy. With a tired sigh, Fox nodded his head, "yes sir."

"And I better not have to get another report about this again in the future, you hear me, Fox?" Minato jumped up from his seat suddenly, "if I have to miss my daughter's eleventh birthday tonight because of all this added paperwork, I won't ever let you forget it!" 

"...Loud and clear, Sir," Fox turned around and left the room with Kurama in tow. Once outside, he didn't let his anger show as he completed everything he needed to do. It was still early in the evening and he already had so much to do. On top of all that, he forgot that it was his own birthday and it seemed the Minato had completely forgotten that he also had a son that was born on this day as well. Then again, Minato hadn't exactly seen his son for a little under six years now. When he threw him away in the trash. With another sigh, he decided to let it go in place of doing his work, he entered the waiting area when the group he entered with got up with hopeful looks on their faces. "We're heading over to T&I so that you guys can answer questions while I find a way to get everyone back home. After questioning, we're gonna take a trip to the hospital so you all can get checked out there," he turned to Itachi who was still in the room waiting with the group. Naruto decided to take out a bit of his frustration out on him since he was also a captain now, "since you don't seem to have anything to do, you can help me with these papers while I get my report done." He turned to Kurama who was chuckling at the older boys surprised reaction, "you too," the fox boy stopped chuckling instantly and frown at the masked blond. "No complaining," he turned back to the group, "we've still got a long day ahead of us, let's get moving!" 

"Yes, sir," Itachi said in a depressed tone as he got up from the spot he was playing games with the younger in.

"What a mean captain you are," Kurama pouted as he followed Naruto out of the tower.

"Shut it, Kit," Naruto commanded as he led the group to the Torture and Intericagetion unit.

"Kit! Excuse me?" Kurama exclaimed in shock, "you have the nerve to-"

"I do, and you'll keep your mouth shut, Kit, before you draw even more attention to yourself," Naruto stated. Although he was having a little fun giving Kurama his official codename. He could have sworn he heard Itachi chuckle a but behind him when he said it. Kurama glared at the blond and grumbled as he followed behind him all the way to the building where they dropped off all the kids to get questioned. Itachi was instructed to watch over them while he took care of the paperwork the Hokage handed off to him. To make things go a bit faster, Naruto created clones to help them get the work done faster. By the end of the day, Naruto made his way back over to the Hokage's office just in time for the older blond to start heading over to Iko's birthday party. Naruto didn't care if he got yelled at very from now on, he wanted some revenge, he couldn't help but be a little salty about being forgotten by his parents even after all the years and all his accomplishments. Maybe he was still a child at heart like Kurama said. Who cares? Naruto, as Fox, kicked open Minato's office door just as he was putting on his coat to go home and dumped all of his completed paperwork in front of him. He finished the paperwork and took care of all the kid's check-ups hours ago, he was just doing this to spite his so-called father as a small birthday gift to himself. "Here you are Lord Hokage, I was able to complete all the papers just in time and rushed to get them back here just in time. If you hurry to stamp all of them with yourself, I'm sure you will make your precious daughter's birthday before she cuts the cake and opens her presents," he stated in a cheerful tone. 

"Wha-why you! I thought I told you not to make me miss Iko's birthday today!" Minato all but shouted, "this can wait for tomorrow, can't it?" 

"I'm sure it could, Lord Hokage. But it's like I said, if you hurry to stamp them, then I'm sure you will only arrive a little late as opposed to missing the party altogether," Fox stated in a cheerful tone.

Minato looked like he was going to blow steam out of his ears, but Fox wasn't budging. Minato was almost sure that he could take him in a fight, but the stories he's heard about the boy seemed terrifying enough that he might get a run for his money. Plus he had no doubt that if they did fight right now, Fox would drag out the fight long enough to ruin the mood of the party and probably cause some damage to the village would only bring about even more problems than just a small bit of whining he' would have to endure from Iko. In the end, Minato sucked it up, sat back in his chair, and started stamping all the papers in the indicated spot, that's all he needed to do, and he mumbled angrily under his breath the whole time. "There, happy now?" Minato huffed as he finished the last paper and jumped out of his chair and left the room in a flash of light before the young ANBU could say anything more.

Naruto smirked under his mask, "very," and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

**To be continued...**


	7. Exams

Two days after that fiasco, Naruto had finally managed to send almost all the kids back to their homes as he promised. Out of the sixteen people he saved that night, one had to remain in the village because she went into labor that night. The girls' name was Jenny, was from a small village near the border of Fire Country, and Water Country. During her examination during the day, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her other than some bruising and some trama from being held captive at such a young age. Not to mention the PTSD from that even made her anxious about having the baby she was forced to have by the bandits didn't do any good for her mental health. Because of her extreme behavior in the delivery room, she lost a lot of blood before the doctors and nurses could sudate her. She ended up dying on the table while her daughter, Lilly, was born healthy. Jenny was the most determined out of the group to get back home, however, since she was due to give birth soon, she was told that she would need to wait a little longer to go after she had the baby. This angered her and sent her into a panic attack that then sent her into labor. When she died, the doctors told Naruto first since he was there when it happened. He had already informed the doctors of her situation and they agreed to treat it with care, however, no one could account for such erratic behaviors from Jenny, nor her death, so Fox was tasked with raising the baby as per the Hokage's previous orders. Of course, Naruto tried to refuse. He tried to say that the baby could be sent back to Jenny's parents, but the Hokage gave him the news that the hometown Jenny came from was pillaged by bandits two years after she went missing. In the end, even if Jenny managed to make it back to the place she came from, she didn't have a home to return to since the people of that town picked up everything and left after the attack. 

Now Naruto was stuck raising two orphans.

The second orphan was the little red-haired girl that was with the group Naruto saved. The day after she arrived in the village, she finally spoke up and told Naruto something about herself. From what he learned from their...limited talk, the girl really didn't have a name or parents. Naruto talked to some of the older kids of the group before they left the village to go back to their owns that was, thankfully, still there. They told him that she was brought in one day as a baby and the older girls were ordered to take care of her because the bandit leader had gotten a lot of money to take her in. Naruto was puzzled by this story and found it odd that someone would pay to give their child taken by bandits, it didn't make sense. But, since he had no place to send the little redhead, he had no choice but to take her in with Lilly. Now, at only eleven-year-old, he was the adoptive father of two girls. The newborn baby, Lilly, and the apparently four, not five, year old redhead he named Hanna because he couldn't leave them to the village's adoption services, Hokages orders or not. 

_"Why am I so soft-hearted?"_ The blond wondered to himself as he fixed another bottle of baby food for Lilly who had kept him up all night with her crying. He heard Lilly's cries coming closer as Kurama entered the room, he turned to face the crying child with a tired expression and a groan. "Why do babies cry so much?" He took the infant from Kurama's arms and gave her the bottle he made, that calmed her down right away and he smiled, "at least it's not as bad when she's like this."

Kurama yawned, "yeah, and just think, you'll be making a whole bunch of them soon when you start your clan."

Naruto glared at the fox boy, "shut up, Kurama, let me have my peace now. I can think about that later," he walked over to a chair and sat down. At the moment they were sitting in the kitchen of Naruto's house, he finally finished with the insides and put up all the seals he felt needed to keep his new home safe. Concealment and defense seals of the highest grade that would put Kushina's own seals to shame. Barriers and detection seals at every corner, and trap seals placed just about everywhere he could think of. Of course, he made sure that the seals would obey the commands of either him and Kurama while recognizing Lilly and Hanna as members of his house. He wouldn't allow for rookie mistakes in his home. Now that his home was finished, just in time too, he could finally move on to the next stop of his plans. "By the way, Kurama, since we're on the subject of babies-"

"Oh my, Naru-chan, I'm so happy you asked! But you'll have to finish with Lilly first before we can-" Kurama started with a blush on his face. Naruto didn't find his antics funny, he motioned for one of his clones that was passing by to deliver a chop to the fox's head for him since his hands were full. "Owe! What was that for kit? I was only joking, you know."

"I don't like your joke after such a long night." Naruto yawned, "anyway since we are going to need to build a clan with my bloodline, I first want to find someone who's good with kids."

Kurama thought about that for a moment, "yeah, I see what you mean." He sat down in the chair next to Naruto, "so who did you have in mind to start?"

"Hmm...Shikamaru," Naruto stated as Lilly finished her bottle. He put the empty bottle on the table in front of him and burped the little girl, "whenever I look up, he's always staring at him, so I think he's curious about me. He was one of the ones walking by on the first day that I showed Sasuke how to by quite. I feel like he wants to talk to me, but every time he gets close, that Yamanaka girl or one of her friends gets in the way, so it's annoying to talk to him openly." He explained as Lilly let out her gas and finally fell asleep. She had yet to have a proper sleep since that night when he brought her home from the hospital after sending the rest of the kids back to their homes, he had all of them escorted by his clones. "So, I was going to whisk him away to talk in privet."

"Awe, look he's growing up so fast." Kurama giggled, "he's already talking about whisking others away, yet I'm still here waiting to be whisked away myself." He sighed pathetically, "oh woe is me" he leaned back in his chair as he put a hand over his forehead dramatically.

Naruto looked at him blankly before getting up from his seat and leaving the kitchen, "I'm done with you."

* * *

**Later that day ar the Academy**

Since Naruto started school, his daily classtime routine was to come in, put his head down, and sleep until lunch. Then he would disappear while everyone ate their lunch and would come back sometime before class started. That was the routine. After the second year of this routine, people stopped challenging Naruto to pointless fights that they ended up losing in the end and went along with the routine. Of course, there was always someone that would break the routine and challenge the blond to a fight, lose, and things would go back to normal. No one bothered Naruto, and Naruto didn't bother anyone. The parents still tried to get their children to bully Naruto in some way, but after what happened on the first day, no one wanted to push their luck too far like Sasuke did, which the Uchiha was still upset about losing to the blond that day, but that's neither here nor there. Iruka didn't bother telling Naruto to get up and participate in class when he was being so quiet during his lectures, in fact, Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, Hinata, and Chouji were the only real quiet ones in his class. These five never cause him any grief while in school and he was secretly happy about that. His coworkers refused to believe him when he told them how quite Naruto was in his class, many of them insisted that he was lying and would show up to his class during random times each day. Just so they could if the chunin was telling the truth. Since Naruto didn't cause any trouble, the ones that did try to put all the blame on him, but Iruka wasn't a fool, he knew the routine. They knew the routine and got their just punishment. Looks like Naruto sleeping in class every day was worth something since he never got in trouble because he was always sleeping. The routine was for Naruto to come in, sit down, sleep until lunch, disappear, come back for class, and stare out the window or sleep some more, then go home. Whenever they had to spare in class, Naruto would always be paired with Sasuke so much that it became the norm. Their fights would end in a draw because Naruto didn't feel like getting cussed out and chased by Sasuke's fan club when he had better things to do. By having no clear winner, Sasuke could tell himself that he won, and Naruto could walk around freely once more. It was the compromise he was willing to make to get through his academy days peacefully. 

Everyone knew the routine. 

They all followed the routine because that's what they were used to.

Until now, that's how everything had always been, that is until they got a new transfer student in the class. It was an unexpected change, and this chance shook up their class routine so much that the students didn't know what to do with themselves. Kurama Kitsune, the new transfer student was beautiful. Kurama was so beautiful that they could hardly believe that he was a he. Long, silky red hair, soft-looking pale skin, and he was wearing a very feminine looking outfit to further throw off people's assumption more. A sleeveless peach turtle neck top, dark red jeans shorts that came up to his mid-thigh, thigh-high, red and white stockings, and black boots. Kurama spent most of the morning curling his hair and put on lip gloss to solidify the confusion even further. If Naruto wasn't so tried from getting the other kids back to their rightful homes, calming down Hanna from her nightmares, and finishing other reports and other paperwork involved with his new position as an ANBU captain, he would have complimented the fox. Yet, the fact that he could barely able to make it to class after not being able to sleep properly for almost three days. What's worse was that he had to bring in Kurama's paperwork that he completed as Fox so that Kurama could attend classes with him.

Naruto was also late for class because Kurama insisted on curling his hair for the previously stated reason.

In addition to being late to class, which already threw off the usual routine. Naruto had to hand in Kurama's paperwork to Iruka, since he was the teacher-in-charge of the class, in front of the whole class. He also had to walk into class with Kurama, while also wearing the same colors as the effeminate fox boy because Kurama insisted that he wanted to make a show of his first day at school. Honestly, Naruto couldn't be bothered what Kurama was wearing to school on his first day, but since Kurama promised that he would train with him without complaint later, he agreed and went along with his little plan. Kurama was really close to making Naruto made that morning when he suggested they take Lilly and Hanna with to school, luckily he changed his mind or else Naruto would have left the house without him altogether. Walking into class together with Kurama, Naruto wore a peach-colored hoodie that said 'Fox King' across the front, dark red cargo shorts that were just the right kind of baggy on him, red and white striped socks, and black boots. As soon as they walked into class using the door at the front of the class, all eyes were on them, Naruto hated the attention, he liked sneaking around and moving in silence and shit. Not putting on a show! But it couldn't be helped now, would it? Naruto made his way over to the surprised Iruka and held out Kurama's papers, "here, from the Hokage."

"Huh? Uh, thanks..." Iruka took the papers while Naruto walked back to his desk, sat down, and put his head down. He was asleep as soon as his head went down, seeing this sight almost made things seem normal again. Then Iruka turned back to the papers he was handed, "this is..." he looked closely at the papers to see a red star stamped at the top. He had seen this star before, back when Itachi graduated the ninja academy early and went on to become an official ninja and then an ANBU. The last he heard, Itachi had achieved the rank of captain, elite, or something high like that, he couldn't get a lot of rumors straight when it was coming from the local gossipers in the village. Their stories were always wild and disproportionate. Iruka turned his attention to Kurama who was patiently waiting in front of the classroom smiling at the class, while everyone whispered their wondering questions about their new student. "Alright class, this is Kurama Kitsune, he will be joining us today on special orders from the Hokage," Iruka informed them.

Just as Iruka was about to tell Kurama where to sit, Iko jumped out of her seat pointing accusingly at the redhead. "No way! That's him?!" She shouted everyone turned to her, "daddy didn't tell me anything about him! How could he not tell me!" She whined loudly as she stomped her feet.

Iruka sweatdropped, _"she maybe the Hoakge's daughter, but she only asks like a spoiled brat that didn't get her way. I wonder how Naruto ended up so different from here? Don't they live in the same house?"_ No one in the village knew that Naruto had already moved out of the Uzumaki-Namikaza estate already, even now. Iruka cleared his throat, "regardless of that, the Hokage approved it, so he's here now. If you have any complaints, Iko, I suggest you take it up with your father later."

Iko puffed up her cheeks and folded her arms as if she was being talked down to by her mother. "Fine, I will!" Then she plopped her self down in her seat and stared childishly at the new student at the front of the room.

"Good to know," Iruka turned back to Kurama who was patiently waiting, "now then, where to put you." He looked over the class for an empty see, but there was only one left, and it was by Naruto. No one ever sat at the same desk as Naruto unless they had to, but that had never happened before. Everyone had also come to school today, there were no other absences other than that one civilian kid that dropped out two years ago, which was why the seat was empty in the first place. Heaving a sigh, Iruka pointed to the seat next to Naruto, "if you don't dine sitting over by that sleeping lump over there, we can get the class started. I would have you sit anywhere else, but as you can seem every other seat is already..."

"That's fine!" Kurama smiled happily at Iruka, "I don't mind sitting next to Naru-chan. He's sleeping anyways, how much trouble could he be to handle?" 

"Uhm, r-right, please take your seat." Iruka watched as the new student made his way up the steps and sat next to Naruto's sleeping form without hesitation. Iruka had never seen anyone willingly sit next to Naruto like that before, he wondered if the kid was somehow abnormal. Everyone else seemed to be wondering the same thing as most of them watched Kurama sitting next Naruto with the bright smile on his face as if it were the end of the world. Iruka clapped his hands to get the class's attention, "alight everyone, shows over, please take out your books and turned to page..."

Kurama was a new attraction in class. He was new, that always got people's attention, not to mention he came in before their last year at the academy. People would always flock to Kurama wherever he went, trying to get his attention by asking him question after question about himself. Kurama soaked up the attention like a sponge. While Kurama was taking in all the attention, Naruto was able to walk around much more freely now that everyone's attention wasn't always on him. When lunch came around, Naruto snuck away from the crowd that surrounded Kurama at their shared desk and left the room. He walked outside and made his way over to the forest with the lunch he prepared for the day, he was happy that his clone had the time to make his lunch this morning, if not, he would have had to go hunting again, however, since the construction on the house was over with now, he didn't have anything to worry about now. It was only the tunnels he needs to focus on getting done now and he could always take his time with them. On his way out of the building, Naruto picked up the scent of someone following. He knew who it was because he memorized the smells of everyone in the class after so long, it was only natural that he has them memoried them since he smelt them often. Naruto found his way into the forest where he couldn't be easily seen from the building and sat down to have his lunch. He was sure that Kurama would disappear from the crowd to join him later, "you can come out now, Shikamaru," he called out.

Shikamaru jumped from his spot behind the tree. He was sure that he didn't make a sound, so how did Naruto notice him? Oh well, it's too late to go back now, Shikamaru walked over to the blond and sat down. "How'd you know it was me?" He asked as he laid back in the grass, his bento box sitting beside him.

Naruto pointed to his nose, "I smelled you coming." He stated simply, Shikamaru looked at him curiously, "you smelt like grass and wildflowers, so I knew it had to be you."

"How could you say it was me for sure?" Shikamaru asked turning to look at the blond fully, "it could have been someone else that had the same scent."

Naruto shook his head, "nope, I knew it was you. Your clan has a unique smell."

Shikamaru sat up and looked at the blond with a raised eyebrow, "which is?"

"Herbs," Naruto opened his bento box and picked up his chopstick, "thanks for the meal."

Shikamaru watched Naruto eat his lunch silently for a moment before opening his own bento box. "You're kind of odd, you know that, right?" 

Naruto shrugged, "I never learned how to be normal, so this is my normal." 

Shikamaru chuckled, "fair enough."

* * *

**One and a half years later**

It's already been a year and a half since Kurama started going to school with Naruto. Kurama would get all the attention because he was pretty, it was because of this that the fox got asked out a lot. By both boys and girls, he turned most of them down but went out with a few just to pitty them. One such lucky person happened to be Kiba Inuzuka who bragged about it for weeks, they went out two more times before Kurama decided to tell him that would just 'special friends'. He could have said that they were only friends, but the few people Kurama did decide to date were, in reality, candidates he was testing to help Naruto build the clan. Kurama decided that Kiba might be a good fit, they just needed to tame his wild attitude a little. Another candidate turned out to be Hinata, even though she never outright asked him to go out on a date, he did keep an eye on here even when he was in the seal. She might have been shy, but Kurama was sure that Hinata had great potential. He also thought that she was cute as a button with the way she blushed all the time. He thought about putting Sasuke as a candidate, but his arrogant attitude whenever he asked him out was a major turn off for him, however, he did keep him in mind. Throughout the time Kurama was there, he found it interesting to interact with the other students all the time, although they only seemed to kiss up to him, he still likes the attention. Naruto called him an attention whore whenever he told him so which made the little fox boy mad at times, but he got over it whenever Naruto washed his hair for him. 

As for as ANBU work went, Naruto and Kurama were officially considered the dynamic duo that you didn't want to mess with. They made it into the Bingo book after a year of working together. Kurama loved going out on missions with Naruto, they mostly worked in a team with Itachi and two other members, but when it was only the two of them on a mission, things seemed to go much quicker. When they were alone, they would together, they would make a game out of who could finish the mission the fastest, it always seemed like they were an even match in the end. As for Gaara, Naruto never forgot to right to him as he promised. There would be a letter from the little sand ninja nearly every day of the week. Naruto would feel sorry whenever he came back from a mission and his clones had a pile of letters waiting for him to reply to every time. Because Naruto's ANBU work took him away from the village for days at a time most of the time, he would have his clones read through each letter for him. He would write back to Gaara personally when he got home. Naruto also went back to Suna to meet Shukaku and Gaara the following year as he promised. Within the year he had not seen Gaara, the little redhead former container had grown a little. Before Gaara was a little shorter than Naruto and held a childish look about him, but after Shukaku was released from him, he grew a little taller and looked more his age. Gaara's features little a little more grown-up than before, he lost some baby fat, and he smiles a lot more now than before. He was still shorter than Naruto thought, but Naruto could care less, he found Gaara's slight changes to be adorable. When Naruto came to visit Gaara, he heard all about Gaara's changes, and his treatment. Since he wasn't killing people anymore, even though they attacked him first, no one was bothered him. Most were still fearful or wary of him, but Gaara didn't walk around the village as much as he did before so he didn't notice these changes until Shukaku pointed them out one day after training. Speaking of Shukaku, Naruto could see that the tanuki wasn't as crazy or violent as Kurama had made him out to be. He took good care of Gaara and somehow managed to become his new guardian and instructor. 

Raza was hesitant to appoint Shukaku with this position. But when Yashimaru stated that Gaara seemed calmer whenever Shukaku was around, Raza decided to give in and appoint Shukaku the position. Raza did try to keep an eye on what Gaara and Shukaku were doing so he could find out what Gaara able to sleep whenever he wanted now, even though it seemed like the one-tail was still sealed inside his youngest son. Gaara wouldn't let anyone close enough to him to examine him to check the seal because he didn't want anyone knowing what Naruto did for him or who Shukaku really was. Raza did find Shukaku's name a bit odd, but Gaara explained that to him that Shukaku's mother had a sick sense of humor to name her son that before she died a year later. While Naruto found it cute that Gaara could come out with a story like that on the spot, he found it interesting that he could lie so easy as well. He supposed that not being loved his whole life might be the reason, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, after the two met again, Naruto challenged Gaara to a spar to see how strong he had gotten just as he said he would the year before. Their fight was eye-catching, it was a good thing they fought outside the village after Shukaku got the Kazakage's permission to take Gaara out for a spare. Raza was under the impression that Gaara and Shukaku were the ones fighting, not Gaara and a mysterious ANBU from Konoha. An ANBU that looked very similar to the one that his ninjas spotted the year before on the night before Gaara's ability to sleep without letting out a monster as he did. When Gaara and Naruto's fight was finished, the result being an even draw, Naruto decided to end his week-long visit with Gaara since sand shinobi were converging on their location after the ninja spying on their fight reported back to the kage before they could finish. They promised to continue writing letters to each other and agreed to hang out if they ever met in the field. Even if they were on opposite sides. 

Now it was the time that they had both been waiting for. The genin exams. It's already been over four years since Naruto entered the academy, now it was already time for him to leave it. He couldn't say he was sad about leaving the place, he was actually ecstatic on the matter, he worked hard in ANBU to earn money to start his plan, now he could pick up a little change on the side to treat his girls. Speaking of his girls, Lilly was now one year and some months, and Hanna was now five and a half. He couldn't help but get attacked to both of them after taking care of them for a whole hear and a half. Hanna was very active and wanted to follow him everywhere he went, while Lilly was adventures and would try to run around all over the house, Kurama liked spoiling them both. Naruto made sure that he didn't spoil them too much or else they might turn out like Iko. 

A truly chilling thought.

Naruto and Kurama woke up early that morning to spend time with Lilly and Hanna before going off to the academy. Naruto has been telling them that he was going to start bringing home someone that would soon be apart of their family, Hanna didn't seem to like the idea of opening up her new home to strangers. Lilly could care less what her papa did as long as he came home at night. Naruto almost didn't want to go to school for the stupid exam when he was already an S rank ninja in the Bingo book and an ANBU captain to boot, but Kurama made a fuss about showing off for the class so he had to go. Kurama seemed to be getting his way more often these days. When they got to school, in matching outfits, again, they sat in their usual seats and the new routine began. Naruto would put his head down until class started and Kurama would yammer on and on with the peanut gallery until Iruka came in to settle the class and things would go as usual. However, today was a little different, since it was the day of the genin exam, there were a lot of worried expressions on the civilian kid's faces, while the shinobi kids hid their emotions a little better. "Yo! Naruto, you're actually up today?" Shikamaru asked when he came to his new usual seat next to Naruto and Kurama's desk, Chouji was next to him as usual.

"Yeah, I figured that I might as well keep myself awake today since it's exam day and all," Naruto stated. He yawned, "but I hope it won't be boring or I might fail."

"Ha, you're worried about the exam being boring when you didn't once listen to anything in class?" Kiba butted into the conversation, his seat was in front of Naruto's so he heard everything clearly over the rest of the chattering of the class. He turned around in his seat to smirk at Naruto, "even if the test isn't boring, you'll fail regardless."

Naruto put a hand over his eyes as if he was trying to see something in the distance, "eh? Is that you, Kiba? Or are you just another lovesick puppy after Kurama's tail again?"

Kiba blushed, "s-sh-shut up, it's not like that," he stated embarrassed. Kiba heard some mumbling coming from overhead and looked up at his partner in crime, Akamaru. It seemed like the puppy was chuckling, or what that Naruto's imagination? "You too, Akamaru."

Iruka walked in as normal just then and greeted the class like normal, "alright class, you know what today is, I wish everyone good luck on today's exam. For some of you, it will be your last, and for some, there will be one more chance next year. Whenever the outcome, please try your best," he stated with a bright smile, "take out your pencils and I'll pass out your exams." The class quieted down after everyone took their seats, Iruka passed out the test and began the timer, "you have one hour, begin!" 

The test was split into three parts, written, something outside, and then ninjutsu. Naruto never showed himself in class because he would always be assumed to be asleep, but now was the time to show at least a fraction of his skills. Just a tiny part of him wondered what it would have felt like to show off everything he was hiding. To show everyone that he wasn't the weak, stupid idiot they thought he was, then again, that would more than likely end badly for him because that would give people a reason to try to kill him. Naruto didn't feel like putting his best foot forward just yet, besides, he was starting to like this steady pace of his. Naruto and Kurama finished their written test in less than five minutes, Shikamaru finished within that time as well but pretend to still be working on it. When the timer went off, Iruka led everyone outside. The first part of the outside potion was to throw some kunai at a bullseye, Naruto wondered if this was actually the genin exams, then he remembered his ANBU selection exam. This was most likely to weed out the useless kids and form teams with the more capable ones. He turned to Kurama and signed _'when's the real test gonna start?'_

Kurama signaled back, _'maybe this was a joke and the real test comes later when the losers leave.'_ Naruto chuckled as he turned back to the line in front of him to wait for his turn. All they had to do was throw kunai and shuriken at a target, but why were most of the students so bad? They needed to land at least ten shurikens out of twenty, and five out of ten kunai to pass.

Shino 10/10 kunai, 20/20 shuriken

Chouji 7/10 kunai, 18/20 shuriken

Sakura 6/10 kunai, 13/20 shuriken

Hinata 9/10 kunai, 20/20

Kiba 10/10 kunai, 17/20 shuriken

Kurama 10/10 kunai, 20/20 shuriken

Shikamaru 6/10 kunai, 11/20 shuriken

Iko 5/10 kunai, 6/20 shuriken

Naruto 10/10 kunai, 20/20 on shuriken

Sasuke 8/10 kunai, 19/20 shuriken

Ino 9/10 kunai, 20/20 shuriken

The test really wasn't all that hard, he found it kind of funny how people seemed to be having trouble with the shurikens as if that was the hardest part. Of course, the reason he found it so easy was because he kept his skills sharp in order to stay in the ANBU. That like of work was by far the most dangerous because of the high danger levels of their missions that almost guaranteed death every time for anyone who wasn't capable enough. The ANBU trainees always had to keep their skills sharp so that they didn't get hurt turning their training, if they couldn't handle the training, they couldn't handle being an ANBU. In the end, the test was going to be boring after all, it was a little embarrassing that he had to do this little work to become a genin, but he supposed that these guys had to start somewhere. After observing the other kid's scores, he ruled out those who would be taking the test again next year, those who barely passed, and those who were barely trying. Like him, Shikamaru was hiding his skills, but for a different reason than him. He already figured that Shikamaru was a genius, yet he was so lazy that he only showed enough effort to pass, Naruto wanted to change that sort of thinking. Iruka was surprised when he saw how well Naruto did, but then again, it didn't take much brainpower to throw knives around so it was understandable. Everyone else seemed to come to the same conclusion, except one. "How is he able to pass! He's so dumb!" Iko yelled and tried to accuse him of cheating. 

Naruto rolled his eyes, "it doesn't take a genius to throw things, you seem to do it just fine," Kurama giggled behind his hand.

Iko turned red from embarrassment and anger, "no, that-I, urrg, SHUT UP IDIOT!" 

"What? Was I wrong?" Naruto asked innocently with a smirk, "maybe you should have practice more insisted on playing around with your friend. I see some of them even did better than you," he chuckled when he noticed Iko's face burning red, he knew she was about to explode soon. 

Iruka stepped in before things went too far, "Iko, calm down please, we're still in the middle of a test."

"But-but," Iko started but Iruka wouldn't let her finish.

"Whatever you have to say, save it, let's move on to the next part now," Iruka led the class to the small practice arena in the academy training ground. The next part of the next was combat. "First up..." Iruka announced pare after pare and let them spare until someone was knocked out of the ring or was on the ground for longer than five seconds. Chouji was pared with Shikamaru, they ended their fight in a draw. Ino and Shino went next, Shino won. Hinata faced a civilian and won. Sasuke faced off with Kurama and lost, he was steaming about that and the fan club didn't know who to root for, at least it wasn't a boring fight. It was over in less than five minutes when Sasuke tried charging at Kurama, the redhead didn't move until the Uchiha was inches from his face, then the next thing anyone knew, Sasuke was on the floor outside the rin. Kurama won and Sasuke was mad, but hey, you can't please everyone. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke didn't bring up the fight, maybe because he was embarrassed, or he didn't want to ruin his chances of dating Kurama in the future, or whatever. Naruto didn't care. More fights passed until it was finally Naruto's turn, his opponent was a whining bitch, aka Iko. 

"Hahaha, prepare to die, bitch! It's my turn now!" Iko shouted eagerly as she practically jumped into the ring and rubbed her hands together like some cheesy supervillain.

"Whatever," Naruto walked over to the ring like a normal person, "let's get this over with." Iruka began the match and Iko ran towards her twin before Iruka even finish the word 'begin'. Iko threw punch after punch but Naruto dodged them all, her form was sloppy and weak, it needed a lot of work. He wondered what Minato was doing with her training, if he was the one training her, he was sure to have fixed all of her fighting flaws from the start. Whatever Minato was doing in her training clearly wasn't working, she even tried to swoop his legs from under him, but nothing she tried was managed to move him an inch. Naruto yawned, "you done?" Iko got even angrier and tried to go for one last punch before Naruto caught her wrist. He swooped her legs from under her and pinned her to the ground for the whole of five seconds with her hand behind her back before Iruka announced. He won the match, obviously. Everyone seemed to be stunned that the seemingly weak Naruto beat the Hokage's daughter in a fight, then they remembered the first day of school when Naruto taught Sasuke how to fly. And every fight they tried to start with him after that always ended up with him winning, so after they thought about it like sensible human beings, they realized. Naruto was swoll. "Great, good fight, maybe next time you'll listen to me and actually do something else other than badmouthing me to your friends," Naruto let go of her and walked back over to his spot next to Kurama while Iko lays on the ground.

"Iko...are you alright?" Ino asked feeling a little sorry for her fellow blond female.

Suddenly Iko looked up at her friend and started to cry hysterically. Everyone turned to look at Naruto, Naruto looked at his twin and rolled his eyes, "oh no, the princess is crying. I feel soooo bad!" He stated dryly as Iko's friends glared holes into his head.

"You should be feeling bad! How could you hit a girl like that!" Sakura yelled at him as she ran to her friend to comfort her.

Naruto sighed, "and what makes you think that some other man out there wouldn't too worse than me when you guys graduate and leave the village on missions? It's not gonna be all puppy dogs and rainbows out there, we're safe in here so we don't know, but what if there's someone that what's nothing more than to kill you even after you begged them for your life? What will you do then, cry and hope that things turn out okay?" He scoffed, "I doubt that it would work, get your head out of the clouds, the world doesn't revolve around you now or ever. Ninjas die, you just need to choose when that's all."

Iruka couldn't deny the harsh reality that Naruto was spitting, but he couldn't allow another unwanted fight to break out right now. He knew about the fights that Naruto was involved in with the other students in the past, but didn't believe it until now. _"So he really did win all those fights back then,"_ he stepped between Sakura and Naruto before the pinkette tried to do anything. "That's enough, it's time to go inside," Iruka gathered all his students brought them into the classroom, Sakura helped Iko stand up and walked her inside where she silently cried at her seat. "Everyone take your seats...I will explain what's going to happen next. I am going to be calling you all into the testing room to complete the ninjutsu part of the test, when you hear your name called, come back to the room. If you don't pass, you can leave early, if do pass, you can either come back to the classroom and wait, or you can leave, the choice is yours. Alright first up..." Iruka started going down the list of students one by one like he had been while they were outside, he would walk with them to the testing room. He could come back for the next person when he was done and the process continued until the last person was called. 

When it was Sasuke's turn, he had to turn back to Naruto and say something before leaving the room. "Pay attention dobe, I'm going to show you how an elite ninja passes an exam."

"Hm? That's nice, but if you're already an elite ninja, why are you taking a genin exam?" Naruto asked in a bored tone as he looked out the window.

Sasuke couldn't help but glare at the logic of Naruto's words, "hn, whatever." Sasuke left the room without another word and the room returned to being quiet for a while.

Naruto and Kurama were bored waiting for their turns to come. Naruto put his head down on the desk to wait and Kurama painted his nails, a new hobby of his. As they were minding their own business, Iko, Sakura, and Ino walked over to them. Naruto didn't bother looking up to see them, he knew what they wanted and promptly ignored them. "Hey dumby, you should look at me when I'm being so nice to come over here and talk to you," Iko stated with her arms folded.

"Iko, do you mind, you're in my light, do you mind moving two steps that way?" Kurama stated as he looked at the red polish he just painted on his nails.

'Huh, oh, sorry. That's a pretty color by the way," Iko said sweetly as she stepped aside.

"Thanks, I wanted my nails to look as deadly as I feel," Kurama smirked as he finished painting his nails and put the bottle back into his storage scroll. 

Iko gasped, "you know how to use seals?" She seemed dumbfounded because she always wanted to learn how to use seals, but she didn't want to ask her mom since her parents seemed to be on bad terms still. 

"Mhmm, I sure do," Kurama nodded putting the scroll away and shaking his hands so the still wet polish could dry faster. "Why? Don't you know?" He was actually teasing her at the moment because he already knew how much she wanted to learn the art of sealing and clearly didn't have anyone to teach her.

Iko drooped, "no, I would ask my mom, but I can't, and daddy's too busy."

"Awe, that's too bad, hun, I wish I could teach you, but my parents said I can't," Kurama lied. 

Iko's frown deepened, "it's okay, I'll learn it later." Then it seemed like she suddenly remembered why she was standing there in the first place, "that's right!" She asked as she rushed over to Naruto and got into his face, but the male blonde didn't seem bothered by her actions at all, which made her even angrier. "Why'd you do that back there."

"Do what?" Naruto asked without opening his eyes.

"Why'd you win!" She shouted in his ear.

Naruto paused as he thought about her words for a second. Then he sat up and looked her in her eyes, Iko backed away from the uncomfortable stare he was giving her. "So let me get this straight, you actually wanted me to lose, on purpose, just so you could feel better about winning? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"Uh, I, no," Iko looked around the room as the other kids were taking an interest in their conversation. 

"Then what? Didn't you want to win fair and square?" Naruto asked, "wouldn't it be better to win like that instead of having your opponent lose to you on purpose? I mean, if it helps your ego, it's whatever, but that's not how you get stronger, you so know that, right?" 

"Of course!" Iko started.

"Then why did you expect me to lose just so you can win?" Naruto asked, "you don't know how much I've trained, how much I tried to get to this point, and now you want to get your way despite that? Is that what you want to do to everyone here?" 

Iko looked around seeing everyone looking at her expectantly. Even Ino was starting to look at her as if she was questioning her, luckily it seemed like Sakura was on her side. "N-no," she stuttered and her voice cracked.

"Really? So is it only okay for certain people? Or is it just me that you want to win against?" Naruto asked, "what about Sasuke, would you lose to him if you told you to?" 

"Sasuke-kun would tell me to do that?!" She said in an almost questioning tone, see, she didn't know the real answer to that question either. How could she answer him honestly if she didn't know? But she was somewhat positive that she and Sasuke would have a fair fight on equal grounds. But that's what she thought.

"Really?" Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "are you sure?" Iko didn't speak then, he smirked, "I see. Well, since your so sure."

"Iko Uzumaki-Namikaza?" Iko came back into the room just in time with Sasuke to call for Iko. Iko left the room without a word.

When she left, Sasuke walked over with his new headband, "I passed, how do you like that, dobe?" He stated with a smug smirk.

"Oh, it's blue, that's so plain," Naruto commented as he put his head back down on the desk. He toned out everything else around him as he waited for his turn to come. He couldn't wait to go back home to celebrate with his daughters, they were going to be so happy to see him. He wondered what kind of cake he should bring home for them, he always liked to bring home sweets whenever he was in an especially good mood that day. Hanna seemed to have a strong sweet tooth for anything chocolate, and Lilly loved anything strawberry flavored, maybe he could mix the two somehow?

"Naru-chan, it's your turn," Kurama whispered in his ear.

Naruto sat up and stretched his limbs, "thanks. I'll be right back," then he left the room, as he was leaving, he noticed Kiba was standing next to Kurama, he wondered what they were talking about. He hadn't been paying attention because he was ignoring Sasuke, but he was a little curious. Naruto walked with Iruka to the testing room and they got started right away, he made three shadow clones in place of the regular clone, he could have done the regular clone, but he didn't feel like it. Next, he had one clone replace itself with an empty chair in the room, and the other clone transformed into the First Hokage, while he transformed into their Third, and his other clone into the Second. When he was done, he gave a dramatic bow to Iruka who hadn't even asked him to do anything yet, he walked over to the table with the headbands and picked one up. He chose to go with one that had a black cloth, "thanks for the pass, sensei," he tied it around his neck and left. He made it back to the classroom before Iruka and waved to Kurama, "I'm done!" 

"WHAT!" Sakura shouted in surprise, she was just reassuring Iko that he wouldn't pass.

"How could you get a headband!" Iko asked with tears in her eyes.

Naruto didn't acknowledge them, "come on Kurama, let's head over to the cake shop before heading to the house."

"Okay~" Kurama hoped up from his seat, "I'll see ya later, Kiba," the Inuzuka waved goodbye to him with a light blush on his cheeks.

Naruto riased an eyebrow at this, he had a knowing smile on his face. When Kiba noticed his smile, he quickly turned away and hid his face in his arms, Naruto chuckled at the sight, "that's kinda cute," he whispered to himself.

"I know right," Kurama whispered back as they watched Kiba for a second before chuckling together. "What which shop are we going to?"

"Oh, yeah, I found this great spot the other say and-" Naruto said as he turned to leave, but was interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Shikamaru and Chouji standing behind him "hm? What?"

"Wait up, you mind if we tag along too?" Shikamaru asked.

"If you guys are going to go celebrate, then we would like to join you, that is, if it's okay with you two," Chouji clarified through a mouth full of chips.

Kurama tapped Naruto's other shoulder and nodded when the blond looked his way. Naruto grin as he turned back to Shikamaru and Chouji, "sure thing, come on." 

"Cool, thanks," Shikamaru let go of Naruto's shoulder and they followed Naruto out of the classroom and then out of the building. Naruto made his way to the back door, "you go out this way?"

"Normally no, but the front is busy so I like this way the best," Naruto stated leading them away from the building through the back. "Anyway, like I was saying, Kurama, there's this really cool bakery down the street from this dress shop we always pass. I think it would be great to try there first."

Kurama remembered the shop he was talking about, "yeah, maybe we can even get a present at the shop before we there for the cake." The redhead smiled a fox-like smile as he thought of what gift he would get the girls.

"I thought you were going to say that," Naruto sighed since he knew that look on Kurama's face all too well. Meanwhile, Shikamaru and Chouji just followed them around wherever they went until they decided to stop talking about cakes and presents. Shikamaru and Chouji were wondering if it was someone's birthday or something.

**To be continued...**


	8. Conversations with allies

Kurama and Naruto led Chouji and Shikamaru back to their house after they did some shopping. The two ended up dragging them into store after store buying things for Lilly and Hanna. They made a stop at the market to buy ingredients because Kurama was in a cooking mood today. By the time they made it back to Naruto's house, both Chouji's and Shikamaru's arms were occupied with shopping bags, Kurama looked back at the two and giggled, "I guess I went overboard, hee hee."

"You think?" Naruto sighed as he guggled some of the bags in his arms around to get to the gate. 

"What do you guys plan to do with all these little dresses?" Chouji asked, "it's not like it can fit either of you, so are you giving it to someone."

"They're gifts, obviously I can't fit into them, even though I wish I could," Kurama said with a smile as he lifted his own shopping bags.

"Right~" as Naruto was fiddling with the lock, Shikamaru and Chouji got a good look at the house. The house was big, it was a three-story house with big windows, it looked like an elegant mansion that was about the size of a clan head's house. "Uh, Naruto, who's place is this?" Choiuji asked as Naruto finally got the gate opened so they could get to the front door.

"Uh, who? What do you mean? It's my house, Kurama lives here too," Naruto stated as he made a hand sign to disarm his security before his guest was attacked by accident.

"You guys live together?" Chouji asked, "but don't you still live with your parents? How can you have a place like this all to yourself?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulder as he opened the front door, "I moved out. I build this place after I moved from the Uzumaki-Namikaza compound, I wanted to have somewhere of my own where I could be myself," his clone seemed to have heard him entering and came over to take their bags from them. Naruto stepped aside so his clones could take their stuff, once the clone left to put everything away, Naruto motioned for his guest to come inside. "Come in so we can talk inside," he stated as he walked through the lobby area, "me and Kurama have been living here for a little over a year and a half now."

"Wow, having a big place like this all to yourselves," Shikamaru started as he followed Naruto through the house. 

"It must get lonely with just the two of you here in such a big house," Chouji stated.

"Lonely?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, I mean, isn't this a lot of space for just two people?" The Akamichi pointed out as they entered the living room area, there was a dining table in the center of the room big enough to seat twelve people at least. On the far right of the room were a couple of couches arranged in a U shape with two loveseats on either side of a single armchair, Naruto led them to sit there. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that this is similar to a clan head's home, or at most, the Meeting Hall."

"Meeting Hall? Do your clans have a room for that, or is it a separate building?" Naruto asked he might want to build one for himself in the future when his clan grew."Shikamaru took a seat on one of the sofas in the room, Chouji sat next to him while Kurama sat on the couch across from them. Naruto occupied an armchair that sat between the two couches. 

"Usually, that would be the case, but I can't speak for other clans," Shikamaru replied as he looked around the room. "Is this house the Uzumaki-Namikaza vacation house or something? Is that why you moved here, Naruto?"

Naruto put his elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned his head on his fist. "No, I already told you that I was the one to build this house, so it has no ties to those people whatsoever," he stated with a bored expression. Chouji looked at Shikamaru, a question passed between the two for a second before they returned their attention to the blond. Naruto sighed, picking up on what they were thinking, "listen, I know it might be hard to believe, but yes, I really was the one that builds this place. I used my clones to do the construction in secret while I attended school...but enough about that, there was something else that you wanted to talk about instead, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked at the blond for a second and smirked, "nothing gets past you, does it, Naruto?"

"Perhaps," Naruto leaned back in the chair, "but there's also something I wanted to talk about with the two of you as well."

"Really, do tell," Shikamaru had been curious about the blond for a while now. He was always sleeping in class, but now it seemed like he was wide awake. There was an air about him that told the Nara that this guy was no normal kid, he saw the way Naruto threw his weapons at the target as if it were second nature to him. He noticed the speed in which he took down Iko during their match, but the thing that really caught his eye was the way Naruto and Kurama made signs to each other when no one else was looking. He didn't know much about sign language, but he knew that what they signed wasn't in your average signing lessons. Shikamaru had heard that ninjas used signs, and different classes of ninjas used different levels of signing. In the academy, Iruka taught a basic course on beginner signage for the future genin to learn for their inevitable missions down the light. Naruto and Kurama's signals seemed to be more advanced than what he had learned during that course last year. _"Naruto, I wonder what other surprises you have in store."_

Naruto smirked, "I will, over dinner," he got up from the chair with a grand gesture. "But first, let me show you two around the place, dinner should be done by the time we get back."

"Isn't he just the biggest show off you've ever seen?" Kurama teased as he got up from his seat.

* * *

* * *

Naruto rolled his eyes at the redhead, "shut it," he made his way over to the door, "this way."

* * *

The house seemed to be much bigger on the inside than how it originally looked on the outside. From the outside, the house looked like it only had three floors, but there was a fourth floor that wasn't visible from the outside. The first floor held the living room/conference room they were just in, next to that was the kitchen where the clones were in the middle of preparing dinner for them. The kitchen looked to be about the same size as a small restaurant's kitchen, there spacious cabinets and pantries stocked full of groceries. After leaving the kitchen, they found another pantry that was big enough to fit four people, this one was overflowing with snacks, Naruto walked over to one shelf and took a box of cookies, "this is one of our snack pantries if you ever want something to munch on between meals."

"One of them?" Chouji asked as he looked around the pantry, "how many do you have?"

"A few," Naruto stated as he leads them out of the pantry. "I had them put in one for every floor, just in case, but only two are being used at the moment, so those are the only ones with snacks in them. The one in the kitchen is mainly used for storing things that are meant to be cooked, while the other two are just snack holders. Other than those, there are other places you can find to hide the snacks that you don't feel like sharing, but that's up to you." They made their way down the hall to the dining room, this room had a high ceiling with a chandler hanging over a long table. Like the one in the living room, this table looked like it could seat about twelve people, give or take. To the far left of the room was a door, the center wall was made up of glass that continued on to the far right wall, allowing them to see into the backyard. Between the center and right wall was looked to be an outline of a door that Naruto was walking towards, "come one, I'll show you the back too before we head upstairs." The others stepped outside into the yard to see a small playground area with a treehouse close by, a few years away was a fenced-off area with a construction sign on it.

"What's over there?" Shikamaru asked looking over at the fenced-off area that seemed to take up a good portion of the backyard.

"That's a surprise," Naruto started walking over to the playground. Chouji and Shikamaru wondered why there was a playground behind Naruto's house.

_"Where there kids nearby that liked to come to his house? If that was the case, then why did the surrounding area around Naruto's house look so abandoned?"_ Shikamaru wondered curiously while watching the former container knock on one of the many slides leading from the play area.

"Hanna, Lilly, I'm back," Naruto called out. He went to stand in front of the slide and put the cookies down just in time to catch the two girls that came sliding down the slide and into his arms. Hanna jumped for joy and giggled happily as she was caught by her adoptive father, while her little sister, Lilly, held on to th blond for dear life, also giggling happily. Naruto smiled, "hey you two, did you miss me?"

Hanna nodded her head, "yep, sure did, papa! How was the test thingy?" She asked in her childish voice, even though she was only five, she spoke her words clearly unlike some kids her age. Her behavior was also quite mature for her age as well, but Naruto guessed that she wasn't able to act her age when she was forced to live with the bandits.

"It was okay, kind of boring though," Naruto said as he sat upright on the ground while also making sure that his girls didn't fall off him. He reached over to his side and held up some cookies, "and guess what? We passed, so we'll be having a celebration tonight," he handed Hanna the box of cookies as both girls cheered.

"Thank you pa-ACK!" Hanna was just about to take the box when she was suddenly swept up from behind. She looked around frantically to see who grabbed her but then she was assaulted by Kurama's wiggling fingers that tickled her sides making her laugh loudly.

"Hee hee, did you forget about me, Hanna?" Kurama teased the little girl as he continued to tickle her, "what happened to my hug? I'm starting to feel left out Hanny." Hanna continued to giggle uncontrollably as she apologized to Kurama until he was satisfied. He smirked and stopped his assault to hug her, "fine, I accept your apology, this time."

Shikamaru and Chouji came over during all the commotion, Naruto brought the attention back to him. "Girls, these two are our friends, Shikamaru and Chouji," he explained as he pointed to the two boys behind him. Hanna and Lilly turned their attentions to the newcomers as their papa talked, Lilly looked at the two curiously while Hanna had a pensive look on her face. "Don't worry, Hanna, they're good guys, okay?" Naruto got up from his spot on the floor while holding Lilly who had an iron grip around his neck, refusing to let go, she was always like this when Naruto first gets come. Naruto patted Hanna's head as he turned to the two boys, "guys, these are my daughter. The one with red hair is Hanna, and this one is Lilly," he looked down at the girls, "say hi girls." Hanna hesitantly waved at the two boys while Lilly continued to stare curiously at them, Naruto chuckled, "forgive them, they don't meet a lot of new faces."

"Ha, ain't that the truth," Kurama scuffed.

"What's that mean?" Naruto asked the fox boy.

"Hmph, isn't it obvious?" Kurama shifted Hanna to right him as he put a hand on his waist, "since you don't let them go out that often, they don't meet anyone at all! This is the _first_ time they're meeting someone new!"

Naruto sweatdropped, "is that so? Did you really do that?" He wondered to himself, then he shrugged his shoulders, "well, better late than never, right?" Kurama rolled his eyes at him, "Kurama, are you really mad at me about that? You know what I did it, right?"

Kurama pouted, "yes...but I still wanted to show off how cute my girls are! But you kept telling me no!" He stomped his foot childishly as he turned his head to look away from the blond.

Naruto just smiled at the fox, "Kurama, calm down or else I won't be washing your hair tonight." Kurama gasped and turned back to glare at Naruto, but the blond wouldn't back down. Kurama frowned knowing that he lost this fight, "great," Naruto bent down and picked up the box of cookies before handing them to Hanna, "let's go inside to continue the tour." Chouji and Shikamaru looked at each other, wondering what else the blond had up his sleeves. The rest of the tour ended with them on the roof in one of Naruto's greenhouses. Naruto had two greenhouses set up, one on the roof to house all the more valuable plants and herbs he had collected over the years while he was out of the village, and the other held rare plants that he liked to collect. The roof was perfect for the first greenhouse because he managed to collect a lot of rare and valuable plants and herbs from almost all over the Elemental Nation that needs a lot of sunlight to thrive. Naruto is planning to sell off some of the plants and medicine he makes with to earn more to further fund his clan after it's approved, he noticed that the Nara clan also deals in herbs, however, their herbs are purely medical, while he could be used for all sort of things. He even had a section in one of the greenhouses dedicated to poisonous plants that he plans to sell to Shinobi stories, or he would probably make a store of his own to sell from. It might be a bit cheaper, plus he would have a place of business that he could use to put a hand into the business side of the village. He thought about it and was leaning more towards the shop idea while also selling to other shops for connections and trade agreements. Aside from that, Naruto's house held a training room that took up half the second floor, a playroom for kids next to the training room, and a shower/bathroom between the two rooms. The third floor was dedicated to bedrooms, there were ten bedrooms in total on that floor with one extra room at the end of the hall set up to be an office. Naruto was planning to turn that room into his office where he would handle things dealing with the clan, ANBU related paperwork, and other ninja related things that involved being stuck at a desk. As for the fourth floor, in addition to being the only floor that was turned into a greenhouse, he stored many gardening supplies up there. He also had a balcony built around the greenhouse so that on a hot day, he could have the walls of the house converted into rotating doors and let in more fresh air. He also did something with the roof of the greenhouse, so whenever it was raining, he could make the roof open up in a way to let the rainwater the plants in case he forgot.

"Even though I'm pretty much done building the inside of the house, I still want to have a dojo put in the bac. Just so others can train there in case there's a situation where the second floor's training room needed to be used." Naruto explained as they headed downstairs, even though half of the second floor was converted into a training train, he kept the design simple. Basically that room would more likely be used for taijutsu and kenjutsu training instead of ninjutsu. "I also want to put in an entertainment room to give Lilly and Hanna something to do when it's raining outside."

"So Naruto, who's going to fill all these rooms you've got here?" Chouji asked as they passed the third floor, most of the room looked to be able to fit about two people each, each room had either a king or a queen-sized bed in them. There were five king-sized, and five queen-sized placed in an alternating pattern for either side of the ten rooms. "There's about eleven rooms here, but it's only the four of you living here," the Akamichi pointed out.

"Actually, that last room at the end of the hall will be converted into an office for me," Naruto explained.

"An office? Are you doing business here too?" Shikamaru asked as they made it through the second floor, he was curious about Naruto's plans. He was thinking that Naruto was probably going to be selling the plants he saw upstairs in the greenhouse. He saw a lot of herbs there that his father told him about, but were unable to get because of their location and rarity. _"I wonder how he was able to get them, he's probably planning to sell them for a profit later. They would sell for a pretty good price if he took care of them well enough, the herbs look to be quite healthy too. There's no mistaking it, Naruto's a very cunning person when you think about it."_

Naruto could tell what Shikamaru was thinking and he chuckled, "you really wanna know? Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to just tell you guys." They made it back down to the first floor and started heading for the kitchen just as one of his clones dispelled letting him now that the food was ready. He put Lilly down so she could run around, the little girl was more than happy to run off to the dining room behind her big sister. Her curly brown ponytails bouncing with her every step as she made her way down the hall, Naruto was happy to see her being so energetic. He turned his attention back to Shikamaru and Chouji as they followed behind them at a much slower pace, ""you see, I'm planning to make a business for myself later, I'm going to be opening up a shop sometime soon."

"What are you gonna be selling?" Shikamaru asked.

"Herbs, plants," Naruto stated, "but besides, I will also be selling other things. I have a few ideas of what I would like to do, for example, I was thinking of also opening up a clothing shop too since I make all my own clothes now."

"What, so you mean all those sweaters you've been coming to school with are something you made?" Chouji asked impressed, Naruto nodded, "wow, you could have fooled me, I thought they were store-bought from a high-end store in the upper east side of the village. I heard that's were most of the nobles do their shopping."

Naruto shook his head, "nope, I've never been up there, ever." He stated, it wasn't a complete lie, he never went up to the upper east side of the village, but once before his third birthday, he wondered close to there. A child of a merchant back then noticed him as they were walking by and told their parents. Naruto ended up being chased out of the area by a mob of angry rich parents that didn't want him to 'infect' their children. That was the last time he remembered going outside while living with his so-called family, didn't even noticed he was missing from the house until he found his way back home later that night and grounded him for staying out so late.

"Who taught you how to make clothes, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as they entered the dining room, "even though all you ever seem to sear is sweatshirts and tracksuits, the designs look pretty nice." He thought back to one of the tracksuits Naruto wore to class, it was a dark red with two white stripes going down the sides of the jacket and pants. There was a picture of a fox laying on top of a checkmark on the back, while there was a small picture of a fox head placed in the upper left corner of the front, both painted in black, "you have good taste."

"Thank you," Naruto smiled, "I also made the clothes Kurama's wearing." He gestured to Kurama's dark green tracksuit. It was the same design as Naruto's red tracksuit that Shikamaru was thinking about down to the fox's on both the back and the front of the jacket. However, the only difference was the length of the pants, Kurama liked to show off his legs, so he had Naruto make his pants into shorts stopping at his midthigh. Kurama was also wearing black and white striped thigh-high stocks with black boots, the socks had become a staple of Kurama's everyday wardrobe after he got so many compliments about how nice they made his legs look on his first day. "If you like, I could probably make you both something just as nice if not better," Naruto offered.

"You would really do that?" Chouji asked curiously as they sat down to eat after all the clones finished setting the table and were bringing out the food.

Naruto looked back at the Akamichi for a moment with a smile, "sure would. It's no problem at all," he guessed that all of Chouji's clothes came from his shinobi store since the village's usual shops mostly catered to the slim and muscular. 

"That's cool, but Naruto, there's something that's been bothering me ever since we started the tour," Shikamaru looked directly at the blond. 

Naruto leaned forward his elbows on the table, he had a confident smile on his face, "shoot."

Shikamaru didn't back down, "why are you showing us around your home when you've let anyone come home with either of you before?" He asked to notice that Naruto never tried to make any friends before, while Kurama had many people that talked and wanted to hand out with him, he never invited any of them to his house. Not even when they asked, he would always make up some excuse saying that his parents didn't want anyone over while they were away, or something along those lines. Shikamaru always assumed that Kurama's parents were struck and didn't want him to get distracted from his studies after joining the academy so late. Now he was curious about Kurama's parents, from what he could see, and what Naruto indicated, there were only the four of them living there. So where were the parents that Kurama always talked about? "Not to mention, you said you built this place using your clones while you were at school, so right now, I'm assuming that me and Chouji are the only once to know about this place. You even showed us around and told us your plans, why is that? Aren't you worried that we're going to go back to our homes and tell our parents everything that we saw here today?"

Naruto chuckled as he found Shikamaru's words funny, "no, not at all. Relax, I'm not going to fight you guy or do anything to keep you from leaving." He stated as he saw the way both boys tensed up, "listen, I brought you guys here because I wanted you as my allies. I thought that having you both on my side would benefit me more than having you as an enemy. Besides, after today, I think you'll have a different view of this village as a whole anyway."

Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other, "alright, we're listening," Shikamaru could tell that they were going to be in for a long talk, it looked like Naruto was about to tell them something big. Well, it's a good thing that they were sitting down now. Chouji was mostly following Shikamaru's lead on this, he didn't know what secrets Naruto was about to spill, but he didn't think that Naruto was a bad guy. Three weeks ago on Chouji's way to school with Shikamaru, he witnessed Naruto carrying an injured puppy to the vet, in his mind, Chouji thought that anyone who would take time out of their day to help injured animals couldn't be bad. Right?

Naruto looked into both boy's eyes, he was contemplating how much he should tell them right now. Although he didn't like talking about his past, he decided the best way to move forward with his plans was for him to lay everything out for them. And that's what he did, Naruto leaned back in his chair a little and took a sip of his tea, "it all started a little over twelve years ago. When the Kyuubi attacked," he told them the story of how he was born and the mistake that happened. Naruto had looked at the seal that was placed on him when he was first learning about seals, using that seal, along with what he had learned, he was able to fire things out. He didn't know if the idiot that made the seal did this on purpose or not, but with the way it was set up, he was supposed to get the yin half of Kurama's chakra, while Iko got the gang. Kushina would be the one with the soul. Yet, even though that was how it was supposed to go, it wouldn't have ended well for the three of them seeing as a sentient mass of chakra wasn't supposed to be split apart like that. No matter how many times they split Kurama's chakra up, they still needed his soul, his conscious, to keep the chakra in check, or else it would only run rampant in the seal without a purpose. The ending result would be that even though the seal holder held the Kyuubi's chakra, they wouldn't be able to use it properly without it's conscious to give it direction. From what Naruto could analyze from the seal, it looked like Iko and Kushina should be lucky to even be able to walk around like they do since Kurama's chakra was most likely burning their insides slowly, or it was some other to their chakra coils, neither had been determined as of yet. Naruto went on to tell them of his treatment in the Uzumaki-Namikaza household, and then the village. It was shocking to hear, sure, but what really made Chouji lose his appetite, which would be an accomplishment for against any Akamaichi, was when he described what happened on his fifth birthday. And the day after. "Because of all of that, I don't let anyone in too close, my issue is trust, I don't have a lot of it to waste, so I won't forgive anyone that betrays me. Or the people I care about."

Shikamaru clasped his hands together as he thought. The news they had been given was something heavy that he never thought would happen inside the village's walls. Under his own nose, he couldn't understand the chaos that had taken place. What were these people really thinking? Whether Naruto had the Kyuubi's soul within him or not was something still not a good reason to harass a mere child like that. He would admit that the Kyuubi's attack that night was terrible, and many people died that night, even some from his own clan, yet that still didn't give a good reason. Also, there was something else that was bothering him, "why did you say that Kyuubi's soul was sealed inside you? I know you said you have the soul, but you said as if it was all in the past, why is that?" He asked, he thought that it might have been a stretch to ask something like that, especially since it seemed so small in retrospect. Yet, it was the way that Naruto phrased it that made him wonder, "is there something wrong with the seal?"

Naruto thought for a moment as he chewed on his sushi, "nope, my new seal is just fine." 

"New seal?" Chouji asked a little worried, "what happened to the old one?"

"Nothing," Naruto took a sip of his tea and held out his cup so Kurama could pour him some more. "I said that the Kyuubi's soul was sealed inside me because that was true. However, after some years of learning some things, I was able to make a new seal that allowed me to unseal the fox and place him into a human body."

"What, are you serious, is that safe?" Chouji asked.

"It's fine, I still have enough of Kyuubi's chakra inside my new seal that kept me from dying that day I unsealed him. Besides, Kurama likes his new body, way more than being stuck inside the seal with nothing to do other than try to heal me all the time." Naruto explained, he could see the confusion on both boy's faces, and the worry, so he explained. "Kyuubi's soul is still a mass of chakra, but it's continuous, so he would try to talk to me often, but because of how little chakra the soul was made up off, he couldn't get through to me. That is, until my fifth birthday when he helped me leave the motel. After that day, we would talk often, he taught me more things from inside the seal than both my parents ever did. The reason why I was able to do all of this in the first place was because of him anyway, so I hold a lot of respect for Kurama."

Shikamaru held his head as he held up his hand. "Wait, wait, Naruto, are you telling me that Kurama here is actually the Kyuubi no Kitsune? The giant nine-tails fox that destroyed most of the village that night and killed hundreds of thousands? That Kyuubi?"

"Hmph, well you don't have to be so blunt about it," Kurama pouted at the Nara. "I might be a mass of chakra that was allowed to occupy a new body, but I am not the same monster you are describing."

"You not? Then who are you?" Chouji asked.

"I'm trying to put all this together in my head right now, but I'm still a little curious about how the Kyuubi is actually Kurama." Shikamaru stated, "I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, Kurama, but I also don't want to make any decisions without having all the information."

Kurama nodded, "fair enough," he poured himself some tea and out the teapot down between the four of them. He took a sip of the tea after putting two spoonsful of sugar in the cup and sat back, "let me tell you about myself. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a great fox, and the ninth beast of the Nine Great Tailed Beasts Guardians. My father, the man that created and named us, was Hagoromo Otsutsuki, also known as the Sage of Six Paths."

"Wow Kurama, you're giving them the whole speel? I thought you wanted them to hear and explanation, not fall asleep in their dinner," Naruto stated as he wiped Hanna's mouth of the chocolate cake they were served.

"Shut up, Naruto, anyway, as I was saying," Kurama cleared his throat and took another sip of tea, trying to seem sagely. "My father, the Sage of Six Paths created me and my siblings to protect humans, but some idiot decided that we would be more useful as weapons than guardians. Because of that, they started to fight over who had control over my siblings until your first Hokage sealed all over us away in order to make peace. Although I will admit that he had an idea, it wasn't the ideal one and the villages still ended up fighting over us once more hidden villages were created and Hashirama divided my siblings among those past leaders. He was a fool in my opinion," the redhead huffed as he took a bit of his cake.

"I'm sensing a grudge," Chouji whispered to his best friend, Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"Fast forward a couple of years," Kurama continued, "and I'm stuck inside a pregnant bitch that had me pinned to a giant moon and speered through the chest! When I found my chance to escape, I was going to take it, however, when I found myself being ripped out of the seal, I wanted to know who did it. For any fool that tried to use me for their own whim should pay! Yet, when I found the little shi-ack, I mean, person," Kurama glared at Naruto as he rubbed his side where Naruto jabbed his elbow. The blond signed something to him and the redhead rolled his eye before moving on with his story, "it was too late. The little bastard-"

"Kurama," Naruto warned glaring at the.

"What? You cuss all the time!" Kurama whined.

"Yeah, but not in front of the girls," Naruto stated as he finished his sushi. Kurama gave him a look that said he wasn't pleased with his answer, but he dropped it.

"Whatever," Kurama sighed, "I had already been put under a genjutsu by the time I had attacked your village and did everything that happened. When I came back to my senses, I was being violently ripped apart while my soul was stuffed into this little brat for the better part of ten years. I wouldn't allow for a pitiful container that got hurt all the time, so I decided to take my time training home to teach these blasted humans a lesson to. Oh, but don't worry, your names aren't on our shit list," he finished with a cheery smile.

"G-good to now," Shikamaru stated, "um, so so how is it that we can help? If you were trained by the Kyuubi himself, who can we-"

"By having S-OW!" Kurama gave Naruto a heated glare that could have burned whole nations, "what was that for?!"

"You were being vulgar," Naruto stated holding up the fork that he stabbed Kurama with to get him to shut up. He put down the table wear and turned back to Shikamaru and Chouji who were understandably confused. "What my perverted friend was about to say was that we would like you two to join my clan as allies." He folded his hands under his chin as he looked at his former classmates calmly, "we do have a plan on how to make things right in this village again, starting with the hate that they hold over my head for no reason. I can't tell you the details until I have your answers, so I would like you to think about it during your stay tonight."

"Our stay? We didn't say that we were staying over," Chouji stated after finishing his dinner. He had gotten back his appetite during Kurama's story.

"What happed to not trying anything to keep us from going home?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously, "was that a lie?"

"No, no, I'm just saying. Wouldn't you like to deal with your parents whining after you had a good rest? Besides, we have team placements soon," Naruto pointed out.

Shikamaru frowned, "you're a sly guy, Naruto. I can see that you are as much of a fox as ever before."

Naruto smirked, "oh stop, flattery will get you nowhere," he chuckled. "But I wasn't lying before, you can stay here tonight, or you can walk home right now, I can give you a flashlight if you need it."

"A flashlight? Why-oh," Chouji stated but then looked behind him at the window to see how dark it had become. "Oh man, my mom's gonna be so mad at me," he pouted.

"Don't worry Chouji, you're mom might be mad at you," Shikamaru patted his friend's shoulder trying to comfort him. Chouji looked up to his friend to hear what he was going to say, "but my mom will straight-up murder me as soon as I walk through the door. So I think it would be best to take him up on his offer, seeing as how we already ditched both our parents to come here earlier."

Chouji sighed in defeat, he knew how Shikamaru's mom could be. While Shikaku was cool-headed, Shikamaru's mom could turn into a monster when she's mad, "alright, Shika, we'll stay the night."

"Splendid, let's have more cake to celebrate," Naruto smiled happily at them. He motioned the clones to bring more food to the table. The clones brought out the cake that Naruto picked out at the cake shop they went to after leaving the academy that day.

**To be continued...**


	9. Allies

After dinner, Naruto showed Shikamaru and Chouji to their rooms where they could rest for the night. Naruto had his clones prepare something for them to wear in the morning. When morning came, Shikamaru and Chouji talked about Naruto's proposal to join his clan. They did want to help the blond out, and after hearing what had happened to him when he was younger, it was clear that Naruto felt strongly about his plans. Shikamaru got the feeling that Naruto had more things that he wanted to tell them, but he wasn't going o loosen his lips without their confirmed agreement to join him. In the end, the deciding factor for Shikamaru's decision was the fact that he had noticed some of what Naruto mentioned back when he was younger. Naruto was clearly being discriminated against by just about everyone that looked his way. He was sure that the story that the blond told them last night wasn't some grand lie, it seemed hard to believe, but then again, those kinds of stories usually have some truth to them. So when it came time for breakfast, Shikamaru found Naruto coming out of his room with Lilly, both were still in their pajamas, "hey Naruto, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah sure, I was heading down for breakfast now anyway," Naruto yawned.

"Okay," Shikamaru nodded as he walked with the blond to the dining room. He looked around at the other rooms in the hallway, "so you're planning to build a clan, this is a lot of space for just a simple family." He turned back to the blond container who didn't seem surprised by his question, "what are you gonna name it?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto asked as he shifted to sleeping toddler to his other shoulder, "it'll be Kitsune. What better way to remind people of the title they gave me by embracing it?"

"So this is a ploy to get revenge?" Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked, "okay. I suppose I can get on board with that, I'll join your clan."

"Oh? What made up your mind?" Naruto asked as they came down the steps.

"The facts, the idea that people could be so blind is..." he thought of the right words, "a little surprising, maybe? I don't know, however, I don't want to stand ideally by when I know there's something I could do to help, even though it might be troublesome. So I'll be your ally."

"Awesome, I look forward to your support." Naruto smiled, "by the way, Shikamaru, I've made some clothes for you and Chouji to wear after your bath. Let me know how they fit."

"Thanks, but when did you get our measurements?" Shikamaru asked as they made their way towards the dining room.

Naruto smirked, "I wonder about that too," he chuckled as they enter the dining room. He found his usual seat at the table and out Lilly to sit on his lap until the food came out. Shikamaru paused at the blond's wonders and wondered what he meant by it before finding his own seat.

"By the way Naruto, why are you making a clan of your own now?" The Nara asked when he noticed Kurama and Shikamaru coming out of the door to the far left with trays of food. "Wouldn't using the Uzumaki-Namikaza name work just as well?"

Naruto shook his head as he gently put Lilly on the chair next to him when she started to wake up. "No, it wouldn't work, nor have the same effect," he explained as Kurama and Chouji served the food. "The Uzumaki-Namikaza name is reserved for the members of that household, but since I've moved out and built my own place, I wouldn't be considered apart of their household or clan anymore. Not that I was considered a member before, even though I've lived in that house since the day I was born and have the same blood as them. If I used that name, it would be as effective as waving green paper at a cashier that asked you for money instead, so I have to do things this way."

"Hm, but Naruto, isn't making a new clan kind of hard?" Chouji asked as he sat down to eat.

"It might seem so, Chouji," Kurama answered as he held a chair steady for Hanna to climb onto. She had woke up early to help with the cooking, "but in reality, it's quite easy."

"That's right, all you need is land, a building, and members to support you. You'll also need a way to support your clan financially and something that will put you on equal grounds with the other clans." Naruto explained, "once you have the other four, the finding the last one will be the only thing holding you back from establishing a new clan in a ninja village."

"If that's the case, how are you planning to support a clan on a genin's income?" Shikamaru asked, "unless you're planning to wait until you're older and higher in rank."

"That's not needed," Naruto stated. "I already have more than enough of my own money saved up to show the Hokage that I'm stable enough to create my clan. I worked hard training under Kurama in order to join the ninja ranks. I'm not talking about being just a mere genin either, even though I've just graduated as a new ninja, I've actually been working as an ANBU for about four years now, give or take. An ANBU makes more than enough to save up for things kind of thing, but an ANBU _captain_ has the wages to start a clan whenever they want."

Shikamaru and Chouji both looked at Naruto as if he just grew a second head. "Aren't you bragging a bit much, Naruto?" Kurama stated, "I mean, I'm an ANBU too and you don't hear me being so full of myself."

"Wait, so both of you are in ANBU?!" Chouji asked shocked.

"Yep," Naruto stated proudly as he turned his scrambled eggs and toast into a sandwich.

"Hm, surprisingly I'm not as surprised as I thought I would be," Shikamaru stated as he poured a cup of orange juice.

"Good, because I have more news for you, but first, I wanted to know." Naruto turned his attention to Akamichi, "will you be joining me, Chouji?"

"Sure I don't mind helping you out," Chouji said, "I know you went through a lot. It must have been tough doing things on your own until now, so I want to help."

"Good to hear, now, let's get down to business," Naruto stated. "I have a bloodline," he stated making the two clan heir chock on their breakfast. "It's called the Renigan, it's a dojutsu that allows the user to use an incredible power, it is also where the Byakugan and the Sharingan came from." He explained, "there is also a side effect to the bloodline that I will tell you about later, but essentially, this is what I'm gonna use to put my clan on equal footing with the others."

"Wow, you seem to have everything figured out, don't you, Naruto?" Chouji stated in awe.

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind," Naruto boasted.

"Hmph, and you call me an attention whore," Kurama pouted.

"I can't help the truth, Kura-chan, they say it sets you free y'know," Naruto smirked as the redhead stuck his tung out at him.

"One more question," Shikamaru raised his hand. Everyone turned to look at him, "if you have a bloodline, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Whoa, that's right, and wouldn't Iko have one too because you're both twins?" Chouji added.

Naruto shook his head, "I didn't tell anyone because then people would try to force me into a CRA when I'm still young. If I wait until I became a ninja, which makes me an adult by law, I would have the advantage of choosing the CRA myself without too much pressure. I also wanted to be able to choose who I would have in the CRA with me, but since my clan is a new one, I would actually be placed in a CCA instead of a CRA." He explained, "and no, Iko and I don't share bloodlines even though we're twins. While I'm sure she might get the Uzumaki bloodline for the Chakra Chains, I can't say what the Namikaza bloodline is if I were to have it or not. Minato never talked about his bloodline because he was an orphan so he wouldn't know if he had one or not anyway. Besides that, if Iko knew of her bloodline before, she would have been talking about it all the time to anyone that listened, so her parents were keeping it to themselves until they thought she was ready. It would be worse if she had the Renigan thought because she would definitely have a worse attitude than Sasuke."

The others nodded their heads in agreement, "definitely," Shikamaru stated as he went back to his breakfast.

"Yeah, so in this case, bloodline or no, I don't like revealing my hand too quickly. It would be best if you guys kept this a secret too," Naruto started taking a drink of his orange juice.

Hanna, who had been silently listening the whole time, looked up at Naruto. "Papa, can we go out to the park today now that you've become an official ninja?"

Naruto turned to her with a great smile, "Sure thing. We can go after school today, sounds good?"

Hanna's eyes sparkled, "really? Yay!" 

"Yay, we go park!" Lilly cheered next to him, now fully awake.

Naruto chuckled at her actions, he's been reluctant to let Lilly and Hanna out of the house during the past year. He didn't want any of the villagers to spot them and try to take them away from him. He would have been able to stop them from taking his daughters, but back then, since he wasn't an official ninja under his name, the law would be on the other's side. Meaning that if the Hokage heard that Naruto was taking care of Hanna and Lilly instead of a kid in a mask going by 'Fox', things could get hectic. But now he didn't have to worry so much, it was troublesome to keep the two girls occupied in the backyard until he graduated, so he was more than happy to let them out now. "Okay then, so we'll get ready after everyone's done eating."

Shikamaru smiled, "how did you even end up with two kids anyway Naruto?"

"It's a bit of a long story, but to make a long story short, I saved them from bandits," Naruto sighed remembering the event clearly. "I resued them about a year and a half ago now. I was given orders to take care of them since they didn't have anywhere to go, no family to claim them either. While the others got to go home, they ended up staying here with me and Kurama." 

Shikamaru did some math in his head, "so that would make Lilly..."

Naruto nodded, "she's about a year now." Naruto patted the little brunettes gently, feeling how soft her curly hair was under his touch, "she was a fussy baby back then. But it turned out alright in the end," Lilly looked up to the blond with a bright smile before going back to eating.

"I thought that bandits didn't take children," Chouji stated as he loaded up his late with his second helping.

"Yeah, well this one did," Kurama commented, also going back for seconds.

"That must have been rough," Shikamaru said as he finished his juice.

Naruto shrugged, "maybe, but I couldn't leave the two on their own, not now or back then. I know what it was like to be alone and unwanted, even though I did have a family back then, it wasn't the same as being loved. I might have well been adopted somehow without even knowing with the way they treated me."

"True," Kurama said, "but that's in the past. You've got a bright future ahead of you, kit, so live it up."

Naruto laughed, "I guess so."

* * *

After breakfast, Chouji, Kurama, and Shikamaru left the table to take a bath first while Naruto had his clone clear the table and do the dishes. Naruto gave the girls a bath first before taking one himself while Kurama dressed them. Kurama seemed to be excited to have a day out with his girls, he had bought the three of them matching outfits that he gushed over nonstop, he nearly blinded the girls with all the pictures he was taking of them. Kuram dressed the girls in pink tracksuits with Naruto's design of the fox and checkmark, Kurama had them wear the shorts version of it and gave them matching black boots like him. After he dressed them, Kurama brushed their hair into pigtails with matching pink ribbons, Kurama put his hair up into a high ponytail with a pink ribbon to match the girls. "My my, aren't you guys so cute," Naruto stated as he was coming down the steps after getting dressed. Naruto wore a light red tracksuit with black ninja sandals, he had his headband tied around his neck and his jacket open to show a pink shirt underneath. He wasn't going to be caught dressed in all pink, but he did want to match with his girls.

"Haa, it's so refreshing to have a day out with the family! And it's good that Shikamaru and Chouji are coming too so the girls will have more people to play with!" Kurama cheered happily.

"Yeah! We're going to the park, we're going to the park!" The girls sang as they ran around Kurama who seemed to be going crazy trying to take pictures of their every move.

"Oh Naruto I don't care if you want to wait a hundred years, but you have to give me one more!" Kurama stated as he took a break from taking pictures to turn an exciting gaze on the blond.

Naruto flinched a little at Kurama's eyes. The face said happy, but those eyes staid horny, "S-s-sure thing, Kurama, we'll talk about it later," he waved his hand at the fox boy.

"Really, you promise! Yay!" Kurama cheered and turned back to the girls who had started a race down the hall for some reason, maybe because they were so excited and filled with too much energy to contain. Whatever the case was, Kurama was loving the energy all the same, "hey girls, wait for me, I have some exciting news! You're gonna have siblings!" He shouted as he ran after them.

Naruto could hear loud, ear-piercing squeals of joy coming from down the hallway. Naruto turned a little pale, "what have I done, he won't let me sleep ever again after this."

"What's all that about?" Shikamaru asked as he and Chouji came down the stairs in their new outfits. Chouji and Shikamaru had the option to wear a tracksuit, like him, a variety of hoodies and pants, or a regular shirt and pants outfit. Chouji chose to wear a yellow zip-up hoodie with a small picture of a fox eating a bowl of ramen in the upper left cover on the front and the words 'Noodle Fend' on the back in black. He left the hoody unzipped halfway to show a white shirt with ramen, his pants were red and came down three-quarters from his angles, he wore his usual blue candles. Shikamaru also wore a hoody, it was dark green with a picture of a cat laying in a pile of leaves looking up at the clouds in the back. The words, 'Could Head' was printed in white over the clouds, he wore black pants and borrowed a pair of Naruto's boots in brown and left the jacket open to show a white shirt. Naruto talked both of them into letting him make a jacket with their headbands sew onto the sleeves later, for now, Shikamaru had his headband tied around his neck, like Naruto, and Chouji's was around his right arm.

"Oh, nothing, just Kurama being crazy about babies," Naruto sighed rubbing his forehead. 

"Hm, you must have said something really good to make him like that," Shikamaru stated as he watched Kurama jumping for joy as he twirled Lilly over his head. The little girl just giggled happily while Hanna jumped up and down excitedly, "speaking of crazy things." Shikamaru turned back to Naruto, "what were the side effects you were talking about, is it bad?"

"Huh? Bad? No way...well, that depends on the way you look at it," Naruto stated. He smirked as he looked Shikamaru and Chouji up and down, "the outfit suits you both. You two should dress like this from time to time, it's not a bad look, let me know whenever you want to borrow or have me make something for your guys again in the future." 

"Thanks, Naruto, these pants fit me great, and the jacket isn't tight around my arms at all. I always like my clothes to fit a little loose in some areas but I don't always get to have them in the size want," Chouji explained.

"Not a problem, I gotcha ya back," Naruto gave him a thumbs up.

"Hey Naruto, you still haven't said what the side effects are," Shikamaru stated. "I mean, if you're going to lead a clan and have a bloodline to back it up, not to mention the bloodline seems powerful. Isn't the side effect going to be something big to fit the scale?"

"Oh yeah, it is kinda big, but it's not life-threatening or a danger to my health or anything." Naruto thought of his next words to explain the situation, "hmm, basically, with my bloodline, I can supposedly get guys pregnant and vice-versa. But I haven't tried it out yet."

"O-oh, well, that seems like a twist, never heard of something like that happening before," Shikamaru stated. His cheeks were slightly pink at the thought, he heard Chouji chuckle behind him since the Akamichi knew why he was blushing. 

"Oh~ Shikamaru, you hear that? He said he can get you pregnant," Chouji teased. He had never been one for teasing others, but he couldn't help it this time.

Shikamaru's blush got a little darker, "shut up Chouji," he tried to get his friend to stop talking, but he knew it was already too late.

Naruto got a sly look on his face, "ho ho ho, what this? Is Shika-chan interested in being my test subject later?" 

Shikamaru's face felt like it was starting to burn, "w-what makes you say that?"

"I donno, but you seem to be blushing pretty hard right now. What's up?" Naruto teased as he stepped closer to the Nara, while Chouji was chuckling behind them, "you wanna try it outright, is that it?"

"S-s-stop, t-that's not it," Shikamaru looked down at the ground with his hands in his jacket pockets. "You should stop making weird jokes, it's getting trying."

Naruto stepped in front of him and reached his gently hand out to turn Shikamaru's face towards him. He looked into the blushing Nara's eyes with his smug smirk, he leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "or maybe it's not my joke, but you want me to make you tired?" Shikamaru's face was bright red when he leaned back, he chuckled, "relax, I won't do anything unless you want me to." 

"Hey! What fun are you three having over here without me!" Kurama came marching back over to Naruto with the girls in tow.

Hanna looked up at Shikamaru's blushing face, "red!" She pointed to Shikamaru's face as she looked up at Naruto, "he's like a tomato, papa!" 

Naruto burst out laughing at that, "he sure is, pumpkin!" Chouji continued chuckling until he got a glare from his face that made him calm down a little. But he couldn't wipe the smile from his face. Naruto clapped his hands, "okay, okay, that's enough of that, we gotta get to class soon or else we'll be late!"

* * *

**The Academy**

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kurama left the house and reached the academy in about ten minutes via rooftop. They entered the class and everyone turned to look at them, not because they were all wearing new outfits, but because they had two kids with them. "What the heck are you doing with those kids, Naruto? Did you kidnap them from somewhere?" Iko stated as she walked over to Naruto on his way to his seat at the back of the room.

"I don't know, Iko, what are you doing with those girls? Did you pay them to be your friends or something?" Naruto stated in a nonchalant attitude.

Iko glared at her brother, "no way, and besides, I asked first."

"Then why did you answer first?" Naruto asked with a smirk in her direction. 

"Why you!" Iko started to march over to her brother, but then someone pushed her aside. "Huh? Who was that," she regained her balance without falling and looked up to see the person. It was Kiba, "what, dog breath! How dare you!"

"Huh? Iko, sorry, but you were in the way," Kiba stated turning to look at her before continuing on over to Kurama's seat. He smiled at the redhead, "hey, Kura-chan, how are you this morning?" 

"Oh I'm just fine, Inu-chan, how about you?" Kurama asked cheerfully.

Naruto watched the two of them exchange pleasant greetings for a while before he had to ask, "what's up with you two? You going out again?" He couldn't help but feel some conflicting emotions about it, he was a little jealous about the two going out again if they were, and Kurama didn't bother to tell him. Then again, he was curious about what Kiba was like when he wasn't acting like a tough guy, right now he seemed nice enough to be around.

"Don't worry Naru-chan, it's not like that, I'll tell you about it later, 'kay?" Kurama said cheerfully.

"Hey Kiba, how's you're morning going so far?" Chouji asked as he ate a bag of chips that he bought on their way to school.

"It's fine," Kiba replied looking at Shikamaru and Chouji, "you guys smell like Naruto. Did you sleep with him or something?" 

The Inuzuka's blunt statement caught the whole class of guard and Chouji nearly chocked on his chips. Kurama was giggling while Naruto was trying to keep himself from bursting out laughing. "No!" Shikamaru said feeling embarrassed, "we just borrowed some clothes he made, and we slept over at his house last night. That's why we might smell like him," the Nara turned away from the Inuzuka to go to his seat and put his head down in his arms as he tried to look like he was sleeping. But it was mainly to hide the blush he was now sporting, again.

"Ooh...wait!" Kiba turned to Kurama, "I thought you said I could come over today, Kura-chan."

"Don't worry, Kiba, you can still come over after team assignments. Just meet me in the place we discussed and I'll take you, okay?" Kurama said in his usual cheerful voice, but today his voice seemed even more cheerful because he was wearing matching clothes with his girls.

Kiba had a light blush on his face, although it wasn't easy to see with the red marks on his cheeks, "yeah, sure, I'll see you then, Kura-chan." He then took the seat in front of Kurama and Naruto as he waited for class to start, some of the kids in the kids in the row started talking to him. They wanted to know about Kurama and what they were planning to do later, but Kiba confidently told them very roundabout answers to keep them distracted until Iruka showed up.

Meanwhile, Iko had yet to leave, "hey, shitface, I asked you who those girls were!" She tried to get in his face, but it wasn't working, Lilly was sitting in Naruto's lap playing with a toy bunny Naruto made her when she was a few weeks old. It had been her favorite ever since and she would take it everywhere she went, even though Naruto had made her tons more toys to play with. Hanna was sitting between Naruto and Kurama playing with an identical toy, but this one was shaped like a fox with three tails, the first toy that Naruto ever gave her and she took it everywhere just like Lilly.

"Iko, could you please close your mouth, you're upsetting my stomach," Naruto said as he looked out the window.

"What!" Iko said angrily, but she still blew a breath into her had to check her breath, "my breath doesn't stink, I brushed it this morning!" 

"You sure, cuz I could spell it before I even stepped into the room," Naruto stated coolly. Everyone in the class was paying singular attention to the two conversations. Someone made an 'ooh' noise to support the burn that Naruto just delivered to Iko's breath.

Iko huffed, "shut up. Why should I care what you say, you're a dumbass anyway," he folded her arms and turned away from him.

"If that's what you say, then how did I pass the genin exams?" Naruto asked turning back to her, he spotted Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, "and I even took 'Number one Rooky of the Year', how's that for a dumbass?" 

Iko exploded, "no way! You cheated! I told daddy and he said that you deserve to be at the bottom of the class like the trash you are!" Minato never said this, "and he said I deserved that title because I'm stronger than you!" 

"Really? Did you forget who won our fight yesterday?" Naruto asked with a gin on his face, "oh, wait, that was me too."

"Grr, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I was supposed to get first place, me!" Iko shouted, "I worked way harder than you anyway, and I trained harder too! I should be number one, even Sasuke was better than you!" Some of the kids in the class started to nod their heads in agreement, "you only slept in class." 

"Oh, but he's not the Rooky of the Year, now is he?" Naruto stated, he looked at Iko with a smug look, "and who's to say that I didn't train hard too? Have you ever thought that I was out all night training so hard that I couldn't stay awake in class the next day? I don't like to study in noisy places either, so I always went home to study. You don't have to be in class to study, and why do I have to show everyone that I'm studying and working hard all the time? I'm not some show-off, unlike some people," he gave Sakura the side-eye for a second before turning back to Iko, "other than training and studying, I would say that my time spent here was kind of boring, nothing exciting happened while I was here. It was so boring how easy the classes were too, I couldn't help but fall asleep anyways. That's why I passed the written test so easy, and everything else was way too easy too" yes, he did know that he was bragging right now, but he didn't care, he liked bragging every once in a while. He couldn't stand it the way that Iko thought that she owned everything all the time. It really pissed him off, and the way that everyone else in the class seemed to praise her for doing what was expected made him mad too. Every time he did better than Iko before when they were still going to the civilian school before in-rolling in the academy, he always got berated for it. He always used to wonder why, but then he found out and it pissed him off even more. 

Iruka came into class with a smile on his face just then, "good morning everyone. How-"

"YOU CHEATED!" Iko's cream cut of Iruka's words abruptly.

"Yeah," Sakura chimed in, having been silent for far longer than normal, "there's no way that you could have passed so easy!"

"Ah, and the pink thing speaks at last." Naruto chuckled, "well why don't you just ask sensei, he was the one that went over the scores of the test. He should-" he was cut off again by Iko.

At the same time, Iruka was still trying to get his class's attention, "guys, please have a seat so we-"

"No! I want a rematch, right here, right now!" Iko cut in, not letting him finish his sentence, "we'll see who the real Rooky of the Year is this time."

Sasuke had made his way up to the back of the room during the confrontation. He stepped up to the blond twins, "no way if anyone is going to fight the dobe, it's gonna be me. I still haven't settled the score with him after the first day."

"Everyone-" Iruka was starting to lose his patience as he was talked over again. 

"No way, I said it first!" Iko shouted at the Uchiha.

Sasuke wasn't intimidated by her attitude when she got in his face. "If you want a turn, I can fight you after, so stay out of my way."

"No! He's mine, I'm going to teach him a lesson and then you can play with him," Iko was so pissed off that she was talking back to her crush so boldly.

"Guys, guys, there's plenty of me to go around, but-" Narut was cut off once more when the two turned to glare at him and shouted.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "alright," he was trying to tell them something important. However, since they decided to be so rude, he decided against it.

Iko and Sasuke went back to over who got to fight Naruto firest when a hand pulled them apart. They turned to look at the person but were surprised when they saw their chunin instructor standing over them angrily, "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!!!" Everyone scrambled back to their seats as if their butts were on fire and their desk was the water. Once everyone was seated, Iruka let go of Iko and Sasuke so they could also go back to their own seats. They both walked away after shooting a glare at Naruto first. When everyone was finally seated again, Iruka finally noticed the two additions to his class, he turned to Naruto, "who are they?"

"Some kids I adopted," Naruto stated. "They wanted to come to school with me today since it would be the last, so I let them come. You don't mind, do you?" 

Iruka looked down at the little redhead and the brunette seated with Naruto and Kurama. He shrugged his shoulders, he could already feel a migraine coming on because of all the yelling he just did. "It's fine, do what you want, you're a legal adult now anyway."

"Thank you, I will," Naruto smiled brightly, he already knew this was going to be the answer.

"Whatever," Iruka sighed as he made his way back down to the front of the class, "okay everyone, it's time for the genin exams results." He stated as he held up his clipboard, "first up, the Rooky of the Year award goes to...Naruto..." Iruka looked at the list again, "okay, yeah, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaza will be this year's Rooky of the Year." He held up a gold medal with the kanji for Rooky on it, "Naruto, please come and get this afterward," Naruto gave him a thumbs up and he continued, too tired to care. "Now for the runner up," he held up another medal, this time silver, "Sasuke Uchiha, you can get this afterward as well." Iruka heard a 'hn' from the Uchiha and didn't bother to look in his direction, now for the teams...team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and...Kurama Kitsune and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze." The first mentioned pair turned a glare at the blond in the back, but Naruto ignored them

"Excuse me, Iruka sensei," Naruto said in a bored tone as he raised his hand.

"What is it, Naruto?" Iruka said slightly annoyed at being interrupted yet again.

"Who do I talk to about changing my teammates?" Naruto asked because he really would rather be on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji, or even Kiba, anyone else but Sakura and Sasuke. Queen Useless was sure to bring him down, while the Emo King would try to pick fights with him all the time. 

"All teams are final Naruto, that goes for anyone else that wants to chang teammates. The only way you will get another teammate is if your team cannot function properly or you guys prove to be a danger to yourselves. Or if one of them dies, to try to keep in mind, you are ninjas now, anything can happen while your outside of the village, so try to have each other's back unless you want to be the one dying." Iruka said before turning back to the list, missing the looks that passed over Sasuke's and sakura's faces, Naruto was already sure that they were planning something stupid. "Moving alone, team 8 will be...Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Abarame, and Kiba Inuzuka. Team ten, is Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akamichi. Team eleven is Iko Uzumaki-Namikaza, Sakamoto Kobayashi, and Handa Kunista. That will be it, for now, your senseis will come to pick you all up after lunch so do whatever you like until then, Naruto and Sasuke, you can come and get your medals now." Sasuke got his silver medal and put it in his pocket, while Naruto came down, took his medal, and wore it proudly around his neck.

Naruto made his way back up to the top of the stairs and stopped at Shikamaru and Chouji's desk. "You guys wanna grab lunch with us We'll be eating at the park."

Shikamaru stood up and yawned, "sure, it beats the hell out of staying here for three hours anyway."

"Cool, I know this great place that doe take out, I'll show you," Naruto stated as he retrieved Lilly who was more than ready to leave the class. Hanna was already on her feet with Kurama, the group was about to head out the door when Naruto turned back. "Hey, Kiba, you guys wanna join us?" 

"What!" Iko shouted startling the whole class and scaring Lilly. Lilly didn't like all the yelling Iko was doing earlier, but the sudden scream scared her and she started to cry.

"What is wrong with you," Kurama yelled at Iko. He hated when Lilly cried.

Iko was so surprised when Kurama yelled at her. Kurama never yelled in class, ever, so everyone was naturally surprised, "but, but...you guys can't keep hanging out with the dobe. You'll-"

"You'll what?" Kurama asked angrily, "I don't know what your deal is Iko, but you need to calm down. You don't need to scream about everything you don't like, that's so childish," Kurama huffed and turned back to help Naruto comfort the little girl. 

Kiba came over with his lunch, "hey, is there anything I can do?" Shino followed behind Kiba with Hinata timidly behind him, both of them had their lunches in hand. 

Kurama nodded, "yeah, come on," he led the way out of the classroom and the others followed. As they left, Lilly's cries got further and further away until they couldn't hear her anymore. When the room was quiet, everyone turned back to look at Iko, some had some judgmental looks on their faces. Others had a worried look on their faces because of the uncomfortable atmosphere that was left in the group's wake. Iko sat down in her chair quietly and frowned with tears in her eyes as she felt the eyes on her, she might like attention, but this wasn't the kind she wanted.

* * *

**With Naruto's group**

Naruto led the group outside and to the closet park. "You guys can hang out here while I go get the food," Naruto stated as he handed Lilly to Kurama.

"Okay, do you need any help carrying it?" Kurama asked as he took Lilly who was starting to calm down. Naruto shook his head and took off down the road, Kurama turned to face the group, "so, let's have some fun until he gets back, shall we."

It took thirty minutes for Naruto to get to the restaurant and order the food. He disguised himself as a nobleman and got the food made quickly. By the time he got back to the park, Lilly had stopped crying and was running around with Hanna as they played with Akamaru. Kurama was talking with Shikamaru, and Kiba while Shino was talking with Chouji, Hinata kept an eye on the kids. "I'm back," Naruto announced holding up the takeout boxes, Kurama noticed and took out a blanket from a storage school and spread it out on the ground. Shikamaru and Chouji helped seat up the food while Kiba went to go catch the kids so they could eat. As he was doing that, he looked to Shino, "you have some questions for me, Shino?" 

"Yes, why did you invite our team to eat with you guys?" Shino asked, "I also noticed that Shikamaru, Chouji, seemed to have grown close with Kurama and yourself since yesterday. I was curious about it."

"Ah yes, I should expect this from you, Shino, you're so observant," Naruto complimented. 

"I try to be, I am a ninja now after all," Shino stated plainly as everyone sat down on the blanket to eat.

"What can I say, I try to make allies with many people while being wary of everyone. I don't know who I can trust now and later," Naruto explained, "but," he started pouring drinks for everyone. "I have a feeling that I will be good allies with you guys, so I wanted to treat you to a meal like I did with Chouji and Shikamaru yesterday."

"Is that why you guys smell like Kurama too?" Kiba asked as he accepted a cup from Naruto, "I thought it was only Naruto, but you guys smell like both of them," he stated staring straight at Shikamaru and Chouji.

"I already told you that we borrowed his clothes, Kiba," Shikamaru sighed, "what more do you want?"

Kiba thought about that for a second, "yeah, but that wouldn't really explain why you smell like Kurama too. If you were only borrowing clothes, then you wouldn't only smell like the person you borrowed the clothes from, not two people." The Inuzuka got a suspicious look on his face, "what really happened yesterday."

"They slept over last night," Kurama took a cup from Naruto and drank. "They also stayed for dinner and had a bath after breakfast with us too." He looked over at Kiba with a smirk, "anything else you wanna know Inu-chan?"

Kiba shrugged, giving up, "okay, I believe you." 

"Yeah, after Kurama told you so," Chouji said taking his cup.

"What do you mean by making allies, Naruto?" Shino asked, "it almost sounds like you're going to war with someone soon and you are preparing your army."

Naruto chuckled, "leave it to Shino to point out the facts."

"And who are you fighting, exactly?" Shino asked.

"Who am I fighting, I wonder," Naruto took a drink of his own cup once he served everyone else their drinks. "Don't worry, as long as it's not you, so you don't have to know right now." Shino raised an eyebrow at the blond but nodded his head. He was curious about the blond, but he would take things slow, "for now, let's have a nice long lunch before we have to go back to class." 

"N-Naruto, t-thank you f-for i-i-inviting u-us t-to have lunch with you," Hinata stuttered as she looked into her cup and blushed.

Naruto smiled at her, "it's no problem, Hinata. I've been meaning to get to know you guys more anyway, but I wanted to make sure that I did it when we wouldn't be disturbed. Now, everyone, eat up before the food gets cold," he raised his cup, "a toast to our ninja career. May it be long and prosperous!" 

"We're toasting now, Naru-chan," Kurama said with a smile that said 'I know what you're up to'.

Naruto shrugged, "I'm living a little. How often will we be able to do this? Who knows what will happen in the field from here on."

"Alright, if you say so," they cheered and started eating the lunch that Naruto brought. The atmosphere was light and pleasant, Hanna and Lilly added to the happy atmosphere by being their usual innocent selves. Kiba shared many jokes, Kurama told a few stories, and the two girls ran off to play once they had their fill. Kiba and Kurama followed them to the playground because Kurama wanted to get more pictures of the girls in their new outfits, and Kiba wanted to show off some tricks he could do with Akamaru. Hinata helped Naruto put away some of the leftover food that Naruto was planning to save for later. Shino and Chouji went off to wash the cups and plates that Kurama took out of his storage seal and Shikamaru threw away any trash the had. When the clean up was done, everyone regrouped talked or watched the clouds until it was time to go back to the academy, "this was nice," Kurama stated as he laid on the grass. "We should do it again sometime."

"Agreed," Naruto stated as he looked up at the sky.

"Me too!" Hanna jumped up from the spot she was laying in and looked at her father, "can we papa?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Naruto stated he looked over to the others, "that is if you guys don't mind."

"That depends on when your schedules are free like this in the future," Shino commented.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Naruto smiled. He looked back at the redhaired girl, "we'll have to wait and see then," he patted Hanna's head lightly.

"Okay," the little girl laid her head back down on the grass and continued looking up at the sky. She imagined the next time she got to play with her new friends. She was a little afraid to meet them at first, but after they started playing with them, she got used to them.

As they were laying in the grass having a nice time, Naruto heard something that ruined the mood. "Naruto, is that you?" Naruto knew that voice, he didn't have to look up to see who it was as Kushina walked over to him. "Naruto, Naruto why are you out here, aren't you supposed to be at the academy?"

"And it's gone," Naruto sighed as he got up from the grass.

Everyone else got up from their spots to look at what was happening. Kushina came closer to them and looked Naruto in the eye, "what's gone, and what are you doing here? You should be in school waiting for you sensei right now."

Naruto didn't like the motherly tone that she was giving him. He hated it, he hadn't run into her for over eight years and he was getting used to never seeing her ever again. But then she just had to show up now of all times. "Why? We still have an hour before we need to go back, lunch only just started."

"Oh, is that so," Kushina looked down at her watch, "your right. Uh, well, since I'm here, would you like to grab some lunch with me? I was going to go pick up your sister so we could eat together, why don't you join us?" 

"No thanks," Naruto turned away from her and picked up the sleeping Lilly from Kurama's lap. After all the commotion earlier, meeting new friends, and playing for two hours on a full stomach, she must have been tired. "We should head back to class guys, I'll show you a nice shop to get sweets on the way," he wanted to sound excited, but he could bring himself to do it with that woman here. Hanna got to her feet and clung to Naruto's leg as she looked cautiously at Kushina, Naruto looked down at her and patted her head gently, "let's go."

"Naruto, wait! How long are you going to keep avoiding me?" Kushina asked, she sounded stern, but also desperate at the same time.

"I'm not avoiding you." He looked back at her, "I just don't want to see you, there's a difference," he turned back to the group that was now on their feet. They were looking between Naruto and Kushina wondering what was going on. Everyone except for Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kurama who already knew.

Kushina frowned, "that's no excuse to be rude to your mother! I haven't seen you for almost ten years, why can't you just spend some time with me?" She asked, "how can you avoid me for so long?"

"It's easy because I'm a ninja," Naruto stated.

"And I'm not?" Kushina scoffed.

"If you were any good, then you probably would have found me much earlier, wouldn't you?" Naruto was starting to get made, but he kept his breathing steading and his shoulders relaxed so he didn't give himself away. He didn't want to wake Lilly with more yelling, she had enough of that from Iko. "Can you leave me alone, I'm not bothering you or your daughter."

"Leave you alone? Leave you a-how can I possibly leave you alone after so much time has already passed?" Kushina stepped forward and tried to grab Naruto's hand, "now enough is enough, I'm taking you back home with me so I can take care of you properly." She tried to take his hand but he moved it away before she could take it, "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaza, how c-"

**"Shut up,"** Naruto's voice dropped to a growl that was animalist and angry. He glared at her with red eyes, "leave me alone, I don't have anything to say to you."

"Come on Naruto, you don't mean that," Kushina said, she was starting to lose her nerve. She had never known her son to be like this before, not that she could accurately remember what her son was actually like before. "Come home with me, Naruto, I promise I won't do anything to upset you anymore. Just please, come home."

"That's not my home," Naruto growled again, but this time it was less angry. "I don't live with you, or that man, and I haven't lived in that place since that day. You should just go."

"Naruto, wait!" 

"I SAID LEAVE!" Naruto covered Lilly's ears as he shouted, but it didn't work as well as he had hoped. She still woke up, but she woke up, but Naruto patted her back softly to put her back to sleep. "Leave."

Kushina looked at him sadly but didn't try to grab him again. "Okay, I'll go...but, let's at least talk properly next time," she said as she back away. "Okay?" She waited until she was a few feet away for Naruto's reply, but it never came, he didn't even look at her, she looked down at the ground for a long moment. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I'll be waiting for you when you get home, okay...Naruto?" Naruto still didn't reply, "okay," Kushina turned around and started walking towards the academy's direction while Kurama and the others stayed quiet as they watched her leave before turning back to Naruto.

Kurama placed a hand on the blond's shoulder, "come on, let's go. You wanted to show us that sweets shop, right, let's go see it," he said softly. Naruto looked at him and gave a soft smile, he nodded and they started walking in the opposite direction. Kurama motioned for the others to follow and they did after a moment's hesitation.

**To be continued...**


	10. The Teams

Naruto showed them to a dessert shop that he liked to frequent sometimes when he was having a tough time dealing with paperwork. He treated everyone to whatever they liked, Hinata got a cinnamon roll, Chouji got two slices of caramel cheesecake. Shino had a peanut-butter cupcake, Kiba asked for a sprinkled doughnut for home and Akamaru. Kurama bought a chocolate cake with strawberry topping for him, Naruto and the girls. After everyone got something, they started heading off to the academy, stopping into random shops every now and along the way until they made it back to the class. They sat together in the back of the class, everyone had already left to go do their own things so it was only the seven of them ion the room. He could feel team eight's curiosity but didn't feel like talking about it at the moment, instead, he promised them that they would talk about later instead. Hinata told him that he didn't tell them if he didn't want to or if it made him feel uncomfortable, but Naruto insisted. He promised to tell them later after the team placements were completed after everyone met their senseis. Naruto had made up his mind, and there was no changing it, even though he wasn't in a good mood, he was going to use this chance to bring in more allies. With that said, they decided to meet up later so Naruto could tell them everything, and hopefully, gain more people to join the clan. After some time passed, people started to come back into the room, no one said anything to the group when they saw them sitting together and talking. Lunch was almost over when everyone heard, "AAARRRHHHH WHERE ARE THEY!!!" Everyone turned to see Sakura, Iko, and Ino entering the room. Iko seemed to be in a much better mood than before, the trio of girls walked into the room ignorant of all the people staring at them.

"Jeez, what's taking them so long?" Ino huffed, "lunch is about to be over and that lazy ass Shikamaru and Chouji aren't even here yet."

Other people in the class were confused, did they not notice who was sitting in the back of the room right now? "And that stupid Naruto's not back either. I sort of wish he wasn't so useless," Sakura grumbled loudly.

"Yo, dung bats, you should turn around and say that to our faces instead," all three girls turn around to see the people they were talking about just at the back of the room. Shikamaru waved at Ino who had the decency to look a little embarrassed. However, Iko took this moment to stomp up to the back of the room, Naruto wasn't in the mood to deal with her bullshit anymore. He knew that she was going to try to get in his face again, and he was still upset about what happened earlier. He turned to Kurama, "here, hold Lilly for me," he handed the girl over before getting out of his seat. He was going to blow off some steam, Kurama could tell, and he wasn't about to get in the way of that. Kurama was almost a little excited about seeing what Naruto would do, now that he was so whined up. Iko came right up to Naruto's face this time, looking at him in a seemingly intimidating way, to someone else, but the former container wasn't intimidated in the least. "What, bitch? You feeling froggy?" He smirked when it looked like Iko seemed pressed for what to do next, but after his comment, she seemed to have gathered her thoughts in her little head.

"Shut up!" Iko swung her fist at Naruto but the blond male caught it easily. "Wha," she tried to pull her hand out of his grip but he wasn't letting go, "let me go, dobe!" 

Naruto's smirk turned into an evil grin, "make me," he tightened around her fist. Tight enough that it hurt, "what's wrong? Earlier you said that you were going to teach me a lesson, didn't you? Come on, I'm waiting," he tightened his grip a little more to the point that Iko could feel a lot of pain as if some bones were starting to crack.

"I said let me go!" Iko shouted as she still tried to pull her hand away, but when that still didn't work, she lifted her leg and tried to kick. Her foot was on the path to a valuable spot, but Naruto caught her foot before she could make the landing to his jewels.

"Is that all you got, Iko, cheap shots?" Naruto laughed a short laugh, "nice try, but you should try harder. If you want to take away the title of Rooky of the Year from me, you'll have to do it in a better way than this." He let her hand and let go just then and she fell back on her butt, some of the kids starting to laugh a little at the sight of the class princess falling on her ass.

Iko was so embarrassed, "stop laughing, stop laughing at me!" She quickly got up from the floor and straightened out her clothes, unfortunately for her, she was wearing a dress that came down just above her knees. If it wasn't for the shorts, when she fell, everyone would have seen her underwear. Iko looked around to see all those who were trying to hide their laugh from her and those who were downright laughing openly without care. She then turned her sights on Naruto, she had enough of him treating this way when all he ever used to do was let her say whatever she wanted with a few snappy comebacks. She didn't want to lose in front of her friends, so she made her choice, "fine then," she glared at her brother for all she was worth, "fight me."

Naruto's grin got wider, "anytime, name the place."

"Right now, outside in the training area." Iko stated, "I'm going to really teach you this time!" She didn't wait for his reply before she turned away and started walking out of the room.

Naruto shrugged, "sure, I've got nothing else to do now anyway." He looked back at Kurama and the girls, "you guys wanna come and watch?"

Kiba and Kurama hoped up from their seats, "hell yeah we do!"

Hanna got up from the seat and ran to her papa with a big smile on her face, "I get to see ou fight, papa?"

Naruto held her hand and nodded as he started for the door, "sure do. It'll be quite the show, so pay close attention."

"Okay!" Hanna followed her papa out of the room happily. Kurama followed behind them with Lilly in his arms, Kiba, was right next to him talking about who might win or lose with the redhead. Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, and Hinata weren't too far behind, along with the rest of the class. Ino and Sakura had already left with Iko. With all the commotion heading out the door, the other students in the class were curious about the fight themselves. Some made bets that Iko would win because she was the Hokage's daughter, and those who had actually faced Naruto in a small fight before bet that Naruto would win hands down. Needless to say, everyone in the class followed the group outside to the academy training grounds, Sasuke made his way to the front of the crowd so he would get a good view of the fight. He wanted to see if Iko really won against the dobe or not, if she did, then he wanted to fight and defeat her, if that really was the case, so he could get stronger. 

By the time Iruka came back into the classroom to check to see if everyone had come back yet, he was shocked to see an empty room. "What? Where is everyone?" Iruka was wondering what exactly was going on since everyone always came back on time before after lunch. He was really starting to wonder if he made a mistake in the location of the room when he suddenly heard a cheering noise outside. Going over to the window, he saw where his class went, "what the hell!" Iruka quickly ran outside to the academy training ground to see if he could get those two to stop fighting, in his rush, he missed one of the jonin instructors that were coming to pick up their team.

* * *

**Outside**

In the training grounds of the academy, Naruto was standing in the little circle that was meant to be the ring for their match. Across from him stood Iko gingerly holding her hand and glaring daggers into his soul. Naruto smirked, if he really had a soul, he would have felt so terrified, but as it stood now, he felt as empty as a shell. So he didn't care how people viewed him, he was going to survive, he was going to make his goals a reality, and he was most definitely going to get his revenge. Off to the side of the ring by the fence were their classmates. In the front of the crowd stood Ino and Sakura on one side, cheering Iko on with her other supporters. On the other side stood Kurama, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, and Kiba. The two little girls were standing on either side of Kurama as they watched the fight, Lilly, who looked lost, and Hanna, who looked excited. Sasuke, Shino, and those who were undecided on who to root for was standing in the middle of the crowd. Sasuke wasn't going to root for either of them if he didn't know for sure who was going to win between the two, while Shino just wanted to observe what was happening. Since there wasn't a person to make the deciding call for the match, Shino stepped up. "Both sides are going to fight just like in all our past taijutsu classes. The first person to step outside the rin looses. You can use anything you have on you in the fight as long as it doesn't cause any life-threatening injuries. If it does, then that's an automatic loss." Shino stated clearly for everyone to hear, he got some boo's for that, but the overall crowd seemed fine with the rules. "Now, let the match begin!" He stepped away from the ring so that Naruto and Iko could have their fight.

Naruto smirked, "I would say, ladies first, but you don't look like much of one."

Iko gritted her teeth and took off towards her brother, "shut up!!" She swung her fist at Naruto wildly, she kicked up sloppily and tried her best to throw all her moves at him. But nothing worked, Naruto didn't dodge any of her attacks, instead, he parried everything she threw at him. It was making her frustrated so she decided to pick up the pace, her father had been training her to be faster so she wanted to see how well her training was.

"Is that all you got? How sad, I thought the Hokage's daughter would be better," Naruto taunted her as he parried more of her attacks. He could see every move that she was going to make before she made it, he guessed that being an ANBU trainee and then becoming a captain wasn't a waste of time after all over the years. It was too easy to see what she was going to do, every move, every hit, kick, swipe, jump. Everything was obvious to him, and it made the fight kind of boring since he was only parrying, so he went on the defensive. He parried her last attack and threw a punch at her solar plexus, it knocked her back and she nearly fell on her butt again, but she shook it off.

"What was that you said about cheap moves!" Iko shouted as she ran towards him again, the crowd started cheering, some for Naruto, some for Iko. Both sides were loud enough to draw attention. Iko didn't want to miss meeting her new sensei because of Naruto, so she decided to pick up the speed even more.

Naruto chuckled, "are you finally getting serious about this, Iko?" He could see the small difference in speed, but it was still slow as hell to him. He picked up his speed as well and dodged her incoming punch with easy before throwing a punch to the side of her face. She was taken aback by the sudden hit, but she wouldn't let it distract her. She aimed another punch to his face, but her hand missed and she got another strick, this time to her shoulder. The hit seemed to hit her hard enough to jar her shoulder a little, but she wouldn't let it show how much it actually hurt. She was sure that it would leave a bruise later. Naruto kept up his attacks, and so did she, although Iko was having a much harder time dodging Naruto's punches. He got in a few more hits on her when she finally had enough, she got down low to swoop his legs again but Naruto saw it coming and jumped up just as the kick was about to hit. Iko was surprised, and so was the crowd, their cheering got louder after seeing the blond male effectively dodge his sister pathetic attack. Naruto was mentally laughing in his head as he landed on the ground again, he spun around and delivered a damaging kick to the side of Iko's head. Iko was taking off guard again, but she somehow managed to stop herself just seconds before she fell out of the ring. Iko got back up on shaky legs, her hands held in a ready position before she ran off towards him like always, this time, she threw a fake punch that was followed with a kick carried by the momentum of the punch. Naruto grabbed her leg before the kick landed and pulled, he threw her up in the air as if she weighed nothing more than paper and jumped up high. He followed Iko's body up in the air and gave her a knee to the stomach, but she managed to just barely block it in time with her arms. That didn't help her much as she still felt the effects in her arm instead of her stomach. He noticed the way she flinched and flipped midair in order to deal another kick, this one landed in her side, effectively launching her off to the side. Iko's body flew directly into the crowd, everyone ran out of the way so Iko ended up embedding herself into the metal fence and leaving a dent before falling to the ground. She was still conscious, Naruto made sure that he didn't kick her as hard as he would in training, this was more of a play fight for him. Chuckling, Naruto landing back down in the center of the ring without fail, "looks like I win."

Everyone was so shocked by the outcome that they barely registered his words. "Uh, w-winner, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaza!" Shino called out after getting over the shock a little. No one spoke for a while, too stunned to believe what they were seeing. Naruto, the boy that always slept in class, actually beat Hokage's daughter, the girl that always bragged about how strong she was. No one believed her since she never really won a lot of her fights, most of the time, it would end with her losing and throwing a fit. Or with her winning after complaining to someone that she did win for XYZ reason. Most of them thought it was unfair that all the fights she won were because she played the Hokage's Daughter, card all the time, though, most wouldn't admit it back then, but now was a different story. Naruto won, he beat Iko fairly without pulling any cards, they couldn't understand it because the two seemed to be moving at speeds that they had never seen before, but it was clear to them who had the upper hand in the fight. It was Naruto, and now the truth came to light. 'Naruto really did train hard all these years, that was probably the reason why he was sleeping in class all the time', is what the class as a whole came to think after that day. Everyone turned to the male Uzumaki-Namikaza, they were viewing him in a whole new light now. He no longer seemed like a weak loser, but someone strong. Some to be feared.

Naruto sighed, he saw Iruka run into the training grounds just before he let Iko learn how to fly. No doubt there was going to be yelling, "NARUTO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IKO!!" The chunin screamed in horror, he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the two up in the air when he arrived. But then to see Naruto send Iko flying into the fence was another story. He was horrified of what the Hokage might do if he found out that he left this happen, he turned to Naruto, "Naruto, why? What could possibly be going through your head to do this? She's your sister!"

That pissed Naruto off even more, and just when he had blown off some steam too. "Sister? Just because we're blood doesn't mean that we've got each other's back all the time. In fact, she's never had my back." Naruto pointed to where Iko was getting looked over by her friends, "if we were really siblings, then she wouldn't be challenging me in front of everyone to fight her and try to humiliate me in front of everyone. If she was really my sister, she wouldn't wanna see me fail all the time and think that I'm useless when I don't show off like her. I don't care what you say about me, but she got what she deserved by challenging me to a fight, I played fair. At least I don't use my family status to get everything I want."

"What, how is this fair?" Iruka ran over to Iko to check her over, there bruises on her that was starting to from the fight. He looked back at Naruto angrily, "how is this anywhere near fair when she's got so many bruises?!"

Everyone flinched when they realized the implication this might have. They turned to see Naruto's reaction on the matter. Naruto didn't show any emotion other than a dull look, "you think that it's fair for someone who's got a higher standing than everyone else to be treated like they own the world? While everyone else has to work so hard just to get by? I won't be the one rolling over and dying over this. It's stupid how little you think my brain is, even a dog knows when he's being mistreated and I am not going to let this go on. Do whatever you want, say whatever you want, we're all ninjas now, there's no going back to the way things used to be before."

"What are you talking about Naruto!" Sakura pipped up angrily, "you just beat up your sister, you should at least feel a little sorry for it!"

"And why's that, Sakura?" Naruto turned his icy blues her way next, "because she's a girl? Because she's the Hokage's daughter? I thought all those things would want to make her fight to get stronger, not rely on it as if everyone else in the world will give her a break because of it. And that goes for you too, in fact, it goes for every girl out here today." Naruto looked at the class, his ice-cold eyes taking in everything and everyone around, "we're ninjas, and we're all going to die. Whether your a woman, a man, a child, or even an elder, everyone will die. But the only way to kee; yourself alive is to get stronger. Stop acting like some lost babies and stand on your own two feet, I'm sick of being surrounded by weaklings all the time."

Sasuke took this as a personal insult, "who the fuck are you calling weak!" He stepped out of the crowd and faced Naruto head-on, "aren't you the one being a little arrogant right now? Just because you won a fight against that weakling, doesn't mean you'll win against someone stronger next time. Actually, I would like to see just how strong you are, instead of how you're pretending to be!"

Naruto smirked, then laughed, "oh, but am I wrong, Iruka!" He called out to the chunin, ignoring Sasuke's words, "isn't it true that the girl that gets captured by bandits usually gets rapped and killed, or sold off to some fat slop that'll do the same thing all over again to them? Or how about all the boys who tried to act all arrogant like this come back home broken and unable to even walk or shit by themselves because of all the stuff they've been through? Isn't the third and fourth floor of the east wing of the hospital dedicated to all of those who have just barely managed to come back to the village, but couldn't bring back their minds with them? Isn't the fifth floor of that same wing overflowing with patients that are missing body parts because of one simple mistake that they could have avoided if this and that happened instead!" He smiled a wide smile, but he was anything but happy, the air around him was starting to get dark and he could control his words anymore, he wanted everyone to know. To open their eyes and see for themselves, he stared straight at Iruka who was only looking at his lap in the spot he was kneeling next to the Hokage's Daughter. Iruka wasn't speaking, which made Naruto one hundred percent sure that he knew exactly what he was talking about, but he didn't want to admit it. Not in front of the kids who were about to take the real genin exams. Naruto's smile got wider to the point that it looked like it would spit his face, he was starting to have a little fun with tormenting the chunin this way, so he pressed on. "Iruka...Isn't it true that an entire village placed the blame of its destruction and deaths of hundreds in an attack that no one could have foreseen, on just one child?"

Iruka gasped, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. _"No way, he couldn't know about that. What's he even talking bout, he couldn't know about the Kyuubi, no one told him, right? There's a law and everything,"_ he hesitantly turned his eyes to look at Naruto, his heart jumped up in his throat when he saw him. He looked like a dark shadow of the blond boy he thought he knew, his fair looked wilder than before and his smile was terrifying. At first glance, you would have thought his teeth were razor sharp. "W-what are you talking about, Naruto, what attack?"

Naruto expected this answer, which made him want to reply to it even more. "The Kyuubi attack," he could see the color drain from Iruka's face, "what's the matter? Don't want them to know about it? What really happened that night?" 

Everyone around them was looking at him as if he were crazy. "What are you talking about Naruto, we all know what happened that night." Ino protested angrily, she couldn't take Naruto's attitude anymore, it was starting to scare her.

"Yeah, stop talking nonsense, if you would have stayed away in class before, you would know the story too." Sakura chimed in, everyone was starting to look at Naruto as if he was the crazy one, but the blond boy never let down his smile, and he laughed. A hard, twisted laugh that chilled them to their bones, "w-wh-what's so funny?"

"You, you are all fools. You actually believed that lie?" Naruto commented as he continued to laugh.

"How are we the ones that are fools! You don't know anything!" Someone yelled out from the group of kids surrounding him.

Naruto stopped laughing for a moment to look them all in the eyes, "oh, I know. Because I was there that night, I know everything that happened! I know the truth, and you were all just feed a lie. No one wants you to know because you're the younger generation, they want to keep it from you, I don't see why though. I know everything that happened that night, and you fools don't, instead, you would rather listen to what others tell you about it instead of figuring out the truth!" 

"And what is the truth, Naruto?" Shino asked, he was unable to contain his curiosity any longer, so he had to ask. He was sure that he was not the only person that wanted to know the truth of that night, all their parents ever told them was that the Hokage killed the fox. However, Shino felt that this was a lie, or at least, no the whole truth. So he wanted to know. 

The crowd went silent as they all looked towards Naruto with determined looks in their eyes. Some were prepared to call him a lier if he told them anything other than what they've already heard, while others wanted to find out if there really is more to the story after all. Either way, all eyes were on him and he was loving it. Not the attention, but the fact that he had everyone hanging on by a string just to hear what he had to say, he felt excited because they were finally going to listen. But he would spill everything right now, he felt that people were watching them now, no, in fact, he knew that people were watching. He could sense at least three ANBU's laying in wait to cut him off as soon as he opened his mouth about the Kyuubi still being alive. He could sense that one of these two people were Itachi Uchiha, he knew his identity because his chakra felt different than the other Uchiha's he's met before. While most felt like a burning flame that was ready to attack at any time, Itachi felt like a warm light ready to protect, or at least that's how Naruto would describe him. Meanwhile, Iruka was getting up off the ground in a panic, "shut up Naruto, you don't know anything about that night, you must have only been a baby when it all happened!" Iruka shouted in desperation.

"That's right, I was a baby, but that doesn't mean that I couldn't find out somethings," Naruto explained.

"Like what? What could you have possibly found out?" Iruka was getting a little scared, the Hokage's law was being threatened right now and he didn't know how else to top it other than killing Naruto right here and now. 

Naruto could see the look in Iruka's eyes clearly. Desperation, despair, he was loving every moment of it. He opened his mouth as he felt one of the AUBU getting ready to make their move. "I found out that..." he heard a kunai wize through the air aiming for the vital spot on the back of his neck to kill him quickly. However, Naruto wasn't about to let this opportunity go by, he leaned his head just a little to the side and caught the kunai with his fingertips just before it pierced his flesh. He chuckled as he looked at the kunai meant to kill him, the others in the area looked shocked.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, was someone trying to kill him?"

Whispers in the crowd were starting but Naruto silenced them with the sound of his laugh. All eyes were on him again, he turned to look in the direction where the two ANBU agents were, no doubt catching them by surprise. He didn't both with them for more than a second before turning back to everyone else, "I know that you can't kill a mass of chakra, even though it's attacking you..." Naruto could already hear the whispers of questions starting to plage his former classmates. He finally relaxed his face into an easy-going expression, he looked at the kunai in his hand again before sending it right back to its owner ten times quicker than when it was sent towards him. He heard a small bit of movement in the leaves near the training ground that was covered by the hushed whispers of the new ninja-hopefuls. No one other than himself and Kurama would notice it anyway, it was such a minuscule sound. The blond rolled his shoulders back and started heading back into the classroom, he felt like his work was done here, he no longer needs to be in the presence of these people when he still had the whole day to go. He walked passed Kurama and the others and didn't say a word, but Kurama got the hint anyway. The redhead picked up Lilly and gently grabbed Hanna's hand before following back inside. Shikamaru and Chouji followed after him, even though they were in such an intense moment just now, they couldn't say they were too surprised by Naruto's words after they already heard the truth from him last night. Hinata watched them go but after a second, she took a hesitant step forward and followed them inside. Naruto's words had an impact on her, she, at that moment, decided not to let her weakness take over her life, it will take some time, but she wanted to be stronger. She wanted to be able to stand on equal grounds with her long-time crush, so she was going to do everything she could to get stronger. As for Kiba, he couldn't get over how cool and mysterious the blond was in that moment, there was something in him that made him want to follow after him, so he did. Shino decided that he was going to keep a close on Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza, his interest in him had been piqued to the point of no return, so he also followed the blond back inside while everyone else waited outside. For what? It was unclear. The air was thick was the intenseness that Naruto left behind that it left everyone frozen in place.

* * *

**Back inside**

Kakashi arrived at the class that he was told to pick up his new batch of students. However, when he got there, he noticed that the room was filled with jonin, not new genin prospects. He looked around the room to see what as going on, he saw Asuma and Kurani waiting with the others, "Asuma? What's going on here? I thought that I would be two hours late again."

_"So he does know how late he comes to meetings!!!"_ Asuma and Kurani thought together as they looked at the one-eyed man. "Nope, it's only been about half an hour since we both got here," Asuma clarified.

"Yep, that means you've come early this time, for once in your life," Kurani stated with a smile, "congratulations."

"Uh thanks," Kakashi looked over at the window were some o the jonin were gathered. "What's going on over there?"

"Donno, from what we hear, some kids decided to start a fight before the senseis arrived." Asuma explained as he took a breath of his cigarette, "seems like the reckless kind, I wouldn't want him on my team."

"Same," Kurani nodded, "I wonder what got them so whined up that everyone would rush out to see the two of them fight anyway?" 

"Who knows-" Asuma started when he heard some of the jonin by the window let out a gasp. He looked over at them, "what happened?"

"That kid just send that girl flying through the air so easy before!" One of them called back.

"Hey, wait, isn't that the Hokage's Daughter that just went into the fence?" Another asked.

"Yeah, I think so, hm? I wonder what they're talking about," another one stated curiously.

"Who cares, as long as they hurry up, I've got other things to do today," the first one stated.

Asuma turned back to Kakashi, "It looks like you'll be getting to know what it feels like for us to wait for you, Kakashi." He patted the cyclops on the shoulders as he went out in the hall to continue smoking. Kakashi's shoulders dropped at the thought but he sucked it up and walked over to the cover of the classroom where he pulled out the Icha Icha book he was currently reading. Kurani took a seat in the instructor's chair and waited. A few more minutes went by when Asuma noticed some kids walking over to the classroom. The one in front had a face that he recognized, "if it isn't Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza, coming back from lunch a little late, aren't ya kid?"

Naruto ignored him and made his way inside the room, followed by Kurama. Shikamaru turned to Asuma, "sorry about him, he's had a rough day, what team are you looking for?"

"Ah, you must be Shikamaru, I'm looking for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio," Asuma explained as he forgot about Naruto's attitude. He looked over the kids before him. "Where's Ino?"

"She's still outside," Shikamaru stated as he and Chouji turned around to go back to the training grounds to get their last teammate.

It suddenly hit Asuma, "wait, so you guys were in that group of kids watching the fight just now?" 

Shikamaru looked back at him as he continued to walk, "yep."

"Is that so," Asuma rubbed his beard chin. "Who was the one fighting Iko? I heard she went flying."

"Yep, sure did. You can thank Naruto for that," Shikamaru turned away from him to hide the small smile on his face. Chouji was trying to keep himself from chuckling too, even though they felt somewhat bad for Iko, they also couldn't stand her attitude over the years. They concluded that her big mouth was to blame and she bit off more than she could chew. Asuma watched his two potential students curiously and wondered what was going through their heads right now.

Back inside the room, Naruto, Kurama, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata walked in to see the jonin senseis waiting. Naruto scoffed at them and went to the back of the room to sit, Kurani sneered at the blond. She didn't like the so-called demon brat's attitude, "you have something to say, brat?" 

Naruto didn't pause his journey back to his desk. "Nope, nothing at all, Mistress," he commented as he sat down and looked out the window.

Kurani stood up from her seat, "wh-" Kakashi stopped her before she could say anything explicit. 

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza," Kakashi stepped out of the corner as he looked at the blond with his lone eye. He turned his eye to Kurama, "Kurama Kitsune, where are your other two teammates?"

"They're outside catching flies," Kurama stated sitting next to the blond.

"If that's the case, then I guess I'll have to go get them. Meet me up on the roof," Kakashi stated.

"Why should we?" Naruto asked.

"Because I'm your sensei and I say so," Kakashi started putting his book away.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the one-eyed man, "not yet you're not."

Kakashi didn't like the blond's attitude, his coworkers noticed and chuckled. "Poor Kakashi looks like you're stuck with the demon brat for the day."

Kakashi grumbled something under his breath, "roof now," then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. However, Naruto and Kurama didn't move.

"Didn't you hear your superior? He said to go-" Kurani stated but Naruto got up suddenly.

"You don't tell me what to do, bitch." Naruto stated coldly, "I don't have to follow either of you because of how rude you are. No introductions, no 'hi' nothing, the least you could say is, 'hello, how are you, I'll be your sensei today', instead of acting like you're my boss." Naruto started heading for the door, "things can good very bad, or very good to those that treat me with a little respect."

"What that little," Kurani stated but Shino walked up in front of her.

"Are you going to be are sensei, miss?" He asked.

Kurani paused when she hears that, "yes, I am. Please follow me," she paused for a second as she watched Kurama follow Naruto up to the roof. She frowned at them before leading her team away, "this way, please.  
  


* * *

**The roof**

Five minutes later and the new team seven was on the roof. Kakashi was looking them over and could see two boys and two girls, but why were their two kids? "Uhm, whose kids are these and why are they here?"

"Because..." Naruto answered.

Kakashi waited for the rest, but the blond didn't say anything, "because?..." Still nothing, he rolled his eyes, "whatever, let's introduce ourselves."

"This again? Why?" Naruto heaved a sigh as he turned to look at his girls playing on a bench nearby.

"Because I would like to at least know your names if we're going to be working together." Kakashi replied, _"why's he so damn rude?"_

"Behavior self, Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him, "geez, have,'t you caused enough trouble today already?"

"I don't know Sakura, haven't you been loud enough for today already?" Naruto shot back, he really was still in a bad mood after the night. He wanted to punch something, but at the same time, he just wanted to go home and sleep. "Whatever, let's get this over with. I'm Naruto," he pointed to the person to his right," this is Kurama." He pointed to the person on the left, "this bitch," Sakura was about to say something, but he cut her off, "and that's a duck's ass. Happy now?"

"No, let them introduce themselves, Naruto!" Kakashi stated he was starting to wonder if he should just fail them all now so he didn't have to deal with this kid. 

Kurama put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "calm down a bit. I'll treat you to some 'cake' when we get home," he whispered in his ear. Naruto gave a look that said 'really', and Kurama nodded, so he shrugged his shoulder and kept quite. Seeing Naruto calm down a bit, Kurama introduced himself, "I'm Kurama Kitsune. I take care of Naruto when he's made so people don't die," he turned a happy smile to their other two teammates sitting next to them, "please keep that in mind for the future. Okay?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked.

"Just keep it in mind," Kurama replied.

Kakashi nodded, "noted, next."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, the number one-"

"Two, you mean," Naruto said in a bord two as he interrupted the duck.

Sasuke gritted his teeth at Naruto but grunted and let it slide this time. He would have his chance to fight him later, "whatever, I have a goal that will become reality, and I will become stronger, no matter one, to achieve that goal."

Kakashi nodded and looked to the last person, "oh, and I'm Sakura Haruno! I like-"

"Nobody cares, move on!" Naruto yawned, Kurama pinched him, "ow, Kura-chan," he hissed at the boy. Kurama just put a finger against his lips, Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned back on his elbows, "fine, but this is stupid. I bet his test is going to be something stupid anyway."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "What test are you talking about?"

Naruto blew some hair out of his face, "if you're really that dumb, then you shouldn't be a sensei after all."

Kakashi stewed in his anger for a second before explaining the real genin exam to his potential students. "Fine, you got me, the genin exam that you all took the day before wasn't the actual exam. That just weeds out the weaklings from the ones with the real potential. The test begins with the jonin instructors, i.e. me, who will test to see if you guys have what it takes to make it as an actual team. We will be meeting in training ground seven bright tomorrow morning around six...no, let's make it four o'clock so we don't burn daylight on the test alone. That is if you pass," he glanced at Naruto pacifically when he said that, "see you guys tomorrow, of and don't eat anything tonight and tomorrow. I want you guys to experience what it's gonna be like working in the field first hand, bye-bye now~" Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke again, his attitude at the end seemed mischievous at best so Naruto was curious. The blond could already see through his potential sensei's tricks and he could wait to put that man in his place first thing in the morning.

**To be continued** **...**


	11. Making plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemon

**Later that same evening**

By the time Naruto got home that evening, he was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to take a bath and go to sleep for a few hours, so that's what he planned to do until Kuruam appeared. Naruto had created a clone to take care of Lilly and Hanna for him so he could take a bath in peace. Now that Naruto was thinking about it, there was only one place to take a bath in the house and it was on the second floor in the style of a public bath. What Naruto really wished for was to have a bath in a more spa-like investment, he let out a long breath of air as he raked his hand through his hair, "I guess I have something else I want to add onto this place. I suppose I'm not really done building this place until I'm truly happy with everything I put in, huh?" He was mostly talking to himself, not really expecting an answer when he got one.

"You can never be truly happy with your dream home," Kurama said walking into the room. "There will always be something that you want to improve or add, subtract, or whatnot, that's why it's called a dream." Kurama made his way over to the showers and turned them on, letting the water flow down his pale skin, he let his hair down from his ponytail and it fell down just over his round butt. Kurama looked back at the blond to see him staring at him openly, he smirked, "what? You wanna join me over here? You can wash my back if you do." Naruto watched Kurama in the show for a second longer before getting out of the bath. He had only just gotten in the water when Kurama came in, not that he was here, he felt that he might as well entertain the fox a little instead of just sitting around doing nothing. The bathroom's design was an open design, he had only put up a single glass partition facing the entrance to and out of the bathroom, the baths were right across from them so people could just walk to them after their show if they wished. Naruto stepped out of the long tub to head over to join Kurama in the shower and stopped just behind him while Kurama was lathering up with the soap. Kurama looked back at him, "so you wanted to wash my back after all? How sweet, here," he handed the blond the soap and moved his hair out of the way. Naruto took the soap and started washing Kurama's back. It wasn't the first time they had done this, he washed Kurama's hair often enough and sometimes he would wash his back too. However, today, he didn't feel like only washing Kurama's back and hair. Naruto's hands moved over Kurama's back, taking in all of his curves and soft skin, sometimes he wonders how someone's skin could be so soft. Kurama's hair was just as soft, like the finest silk, before he knew it, he had pressed himself against Kurama's back. 

"Kurama," Naruto leaned his forehead against the other boy's shoulder.

"Hm?" Kurama glanced back at Naruto's golden locks of hair that was dripping wet from the water.

"...Show me," the blond's hands snacked their way to Kurama's front, holding him gently but firmly in place.

Kurama looked down at the boy's hands and placed his hands over them, "sure. Let's start with the basics," he turned around in the blond's arms held his face up to look at him. He gave him a mischievous smile before his lips met Naruto's in a passionate kiss. Naruto allowed the kiss, paying attention to the way Kurama's lips moved over his, he opened his mouth when he felt his tongue against his. As the kiss deepened, one of Kurama's hands found it's way down to Naruto's member, taking hold of it Kurama started rhythmically pumping his hands moving it back and forth slowly. Naruto was starting to feel hot, he pulled Kurama away so he could get some air and looked down at where the fox's hands were. "Looks like you're pretty quick to react, as always," Kurama commented gesturing to the blond's hard member, he licked his lips, "and you're not small either. I guess you're all grown up then?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "stop talking nonsense, I still got a ways to go still." 

"Kyaa, you're turning me on, Naru-chan!" Kurama giggled excitedly before kneeling down in front of the blond.

"What are you doing now?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You'll see," Kurama smiled up at him before turning back to his task. He took the head of the cock into his mouth and sucked on it slowly, working his way down the shaft until he got to the base. He relaxed his throat so he could take in all of Naruto before pulling back, he bobbed his head up and down slowly, licked the tip and added his hands into the mix as he did everything he could to get the blond to his limit. It didn't take long before he felt Naruto's muscles contract under his fingers, the blond held Kurama's head in place as he got closer and closer to his climax. While Kurama was sucking him off, he decided to prepare himself for what came next. Using his fingers and the soap on his body, Kurama reached him and started fingering his hole, he started one finger then two. He worked his hole, stretching it slowly so he could take in all of Naruto. He felt Naruto's grip tighten a little in his hair as he started to reach his limit, Kurama took him into the base just like before and pushed him over the edge. Kurama made sure to swallow everything Naruto gave when he was done, he pulled off the cock with a loud 'pop'. "That was good," he commented as he got back up, he looked at Naruto's flushed face, "I hope you're not tired yet." He turned around and put one hand on the wall for support while the other held one of his round ass cheeks so Naruto could see his ready hole, "the funs only just getting started. 

Naruto looked down at Kurama's puckered hole and felt all his blood rush to one place. He smirked, "you're aways so interesting nowadays, Kurama," Naruto stated as he stepped forward and grabbed the redhead's hips. He lined up the tip to Kurama's hole and slowly pushed into the fox's warm heat, "damn, you're like fire, and so tight..." 

Kurama giggled, "I aim to please, Naaaru-chaaan" he moaned as he felt the blond enter him.

Naruto pushed himself into Kurama's hole until he couldn't go anymore. "Since you showed me something nice first, I'll return the favor," he pulled out of Kurama slowly until it was only the tip remains, then she pushed back in a little quicker than before. Naruto pulled out again and pushed back in repeatedly this way for a while until he got used to it and started to pick up speed, he was getting used to being surrounded in Kurama's heat. He moved in and out until he was slamming his dick into Kurama's body wildly, he gripped Kurama's hips tightly as he felt the tight feeling at the pit of his stomach again just like before. He was getting ready to cum again but he wasn't ready to end it just yet, instead, he wanted to hear Kurama moan his name. He adjusted his hips a little as he pulled Kurama's body back onto him.

"Aaah, Naruto, what are you doing?" Kurama yelped at the sudden change in positions, _"it's only his first time and it's already this good? Or maybe it's just been too long since the last time?"_ He wondered as he tried to keep his composure, he wasn't going to give in so easily.

Naruto pressed Kurama's body against the wall, pinning him there as he thrust into his with all his might. "What's the matter, Kura-chan, you can't take it?" He reached around the redhead and played with his nipples, pinching and twisting them as he kept up his thrusting. He had read about how women got aroused by having their nipples squeezed, so he thought that he could try it on Kurama to see if it would. He was the one that molded his body, after all, he already knew every part of it like the back of his hand, but he was having a lot of fun discovering it all over again. He took in every curve, every dimple, and paid extra attention to those sensitive spots, like...here

"AAAHHH, Naruto no! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Kurama moaned as Naruto nibbled on his ear.

"Not a chance," Naruto moved from Kurama's ear down to the crook of his neck where he started sucking on the soft flesh tentatively. He could feel the jerk of Kurama's hip as he got close.

"Nooo, slow down, there's no need to rush!" Kurama moaned, _"damnit, why is he so good! Is it this body? Wait, it has to be, he molded it from a blood clone after all."_ One of Naruto's hands dropped down from his nipples to lightly stock his dick, he felt how the blond moved his hands up and down his cock slowly. He wished he would just touch the tip already, that was-wait, _"damnit all, he's mocking!"_ Kurama let out a whine as Naruto pulled his hand away from Kurama's dick to go back to playing with his nipples.

Naruto smiled against Kurama's neck, "what's the matter, Kurama?" He asked teasingly, "tell me what you need."

"T-t-touch me!" Kurama whined not able to take it anymore.

"But I am touching you," the blond teased.

"Muuu, I-aah!" Kurama could feel himself reaching his limit.

Naruto chuckled as he pulled back from Kurama's body so he could look down at the way his dick slid in and out of the redhead's ass. "Alright, but first, say my name, then I'll do whatever you want me to."

"No way!" Kurama whimpered, he wasn't going to give up.

"Suit yourself." Naruto stopped thrusting and Kurama whined loudly until Naruto delivered a sharp slap to Kurama's right cheek. He felt the muscle around his dick tighten nicely for a minute as the fox couldn't hold back anymore. Naruto couldn't take it anymore either and came deep inside Kurama when he was done, he gave Kurama's ass another smack and he smirked, "did you just cum, Kura-chan? Who said you could cum without me?" Kurama turned back to glare at the blond just then, Naruto wasn't sure if it was the water that was running over them or not, but Kurama looked close to tears. 

"You're mean kit, and you came too!" Kurama pouted at him, "I'll get you back for this!" 

"Oh yeah?" Naruto grinned at him, "then I guess we should do for another round to see who wins."

* * *

**Three hours later**

Naruto and Kurama finally came out of the bathroom, completely clean, however, Kurama looked a little more tired now than when he went in. Naruto took in a deep breath and let it out happily, "man, I feel great!" He turned back to Kurama who was using the wall as support, "who should do that again soon, it was so much fun!" 

Kurama glared at the blond, he was feeling salty because Naruto kept on making him cum first. _"Damn that brat, if it wasn't for this body, I would be making him cum first!"_ He thought grumpily, "I'll get you next time!"

"Oh yeah?" Naruto looked the redhead up and down "maybe we can go again later tonight. It should be fun, right? That is if you can make it to the end this time."

Kurama growled at him, "just shut up and help me to the bed. I want to sleep before our guest shows up."

Naruto nodded, "sure," he went over to Kurama and picked him up bridal style. "Off to the bed, we go!" 

On their way up the stairs, they ran into Hanna and Lilly that was running away from his clone in a game of tag. When they saw him and Kurama, they ran right to them, "papa, papa, let's play!" Hanna shouted excitedly.

"Play, play!" Lilly repeated just as excited as her sister.

"Sorry girls, I have to put Kura-chan to bed first, then I'll play with you, okay?" Naruto asked as he continued going up the stairs to the third floor.

"Okay!" Hanna said before running off to play with his clone again, "see you soon, papa!"

"See you!" Lilly copied as she ran after her sister.

Naruto made his way to the bedroom and laid Kurama on the bed. He then went into the closet and found some clothes for him to wear, "hey, Kurama, which shirt do-oh, he's already asleep?" He walked back into the room to see the redhead fast asleep on the bed, he smirked, "looked like I gave him a workout," he looked at the two shirts in his hands and decided on the red one before putting the other one back. He walked over to the bed and shook Kurama awake, but the fox only turned on his side, "guess it wasn't going to be that easy, huh? But I need to dry his hair," he sighed, "looks like we're doing this the hard way." Naruto put the shirt on the bed and left to find a towel, he came back and dried Kurama's hair as best he could, although he doubted that the fox would catch a cold, he just wanted to make sure. Kurama's hair is long, and by logic, long hair takes forever to try, or that's what he thought. When he got Kurama dry, he took off the robe they changed into and put the shirt onto the red's sleeping form, it was a long sleeve that reached down to his mid-thigh with a picture of an orange chibi fox sleeping on clouds on the front. Naruto decided to put on some boxers on him as well since Kurama tends to be forgetful when he wakes up from a long nap, they were white with pink hearts all over them. Naruto then got dressed after drying his hair, he wore a light blue long sleeve shirt with red and white horizontal stripes, he wore orange shorts and a red haori with the picture of a fox surrounded by fire on the back. He had decided that this would be the symbol of his clan, a fox surrounded in a fire, reminding him of the destruction caused by that night that impacted his whole life. When he was done, he went down the steps and took the girls to the playroom to play for a while until it was time for dinner. As he was playing with Hanna and Lilly, he suddenly got the urge to get something sweet from one of his favorite sweetshops in town, "Hanna, Lilly, you wanna go get some cakes with me?" 

"Cake! I wanna go, I wanna go!" Hanna jumped up and down excitedly from the top of the slides.

"I go too!" Lilly started jumping up next to him excitedly, it seems like she's been following Hanna's example more often these days. Naruto couldn't help but think how his daughters were so cute.

"Okay, let's hurry so we can come back in time for dinner. Let's get your shoes on first," He helped Lilly put on her shoes as Hanna came down the slide and put hers on as well. Instead of the boots, they were wearing earlier, Naruto thought that it would be better to just have them wear their slippers, they had taken off their tracksuit jackets and were just wearing their white shirts with their shorts now, "okay, let's get going," he said as he slipped on his own slippers and lead them downstairs. He created a clone with the instructions to start dinner and keep an eye on the house while he was out, then he left. The trio made their way towards the shopping district as the sun started to go down, he made sure to bring a flashlight with him just in case, Lilly wasn't fond of the dark. Along the way, he saw Kiba talking to Shikamaru and Chouji near the fountain near the shops, "hey fellas, what's up?" He called out to them, the three boys turned to him and waved. 

"What sup Naruto?" Shikamaru came over to him and waved to the girls who waved back at him happily.

"Hey Naruto," Kiba said coming over, he looked around for a second, "is Kurama not with you now? You two are always together."

"Oh no, he's back at the house. We had some fun earlier so now he's resting, were you waiting for him?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer.

Kiba scratched the side of his nose feeling slightly embarrassed for feeling a little disappointed to not see Kurama again as he planned. "Oh, well, yeah, he told me to wait here so we could talk earlier. Uhm, so do you two live close by or something?"

Naruto chuckled at Kiba's obvious thoughts, "yeah, something like that. You wanna come over for dinner? He'll be there so you can talk to him then," he offered, "that is if you're not too busy now."

Kiba seemed pleased by that, "sure, I can come."

"Great," Naruto turned to Shikamaru and Chouji, "you guy will come too, right?" 

Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other. They had both just finished their official genin exams and were now official genin of the village, they were feeling tired from the test. Mot to mention that they had yet to go home yet, but by the way Naruto was looking at them, he was expecting them to show up so there was no way they could turn it down. Besides, they could always explain themselves to their parents later, giving the excuse that they were with their sensei training. "Sure," Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, _"I'll just prepare my funeral later, not that you seem to care about such things, troublesome blond."_

"Where are you going now, Naruto?" Chouji asked shaking hands with Lilly who seemed to be warming up to him more now.

"We're going to 'Shishio' to get some cakes for dessert," Naruto explained.

"We're gonna get a chocolate cake! You wanna come with Mr. Doggy?" Hanna exclaimed looking at Kiba and Akamaru, ever since they left the park that afternoon, she has been referring to Kiba as such. She was so cute when she said it that no one wanted to stop her, least of all Kiba.

"Sure thing, Hanna," Kiba said and the little girl smiled brightly at him. Naruto smiled, happy that Hanna was getting along with new people. He was a little worried that she would be alienated due to her past experiences with the bandits, but it seemed like he had nothing to worry about. Naruto led the group to the cake shop, Shishio, he brought two cakes, one chocolate with strawberry toppings, and a different one with fruit toppings. Kiba bought something too, he didn't want to show up empty-handed, his big sister told him that it would be bad manner if he did so. Kiba decided to buy some strawberry cupcakes because he remembered Kurama saying that it was one of his favorite desserts back when they went on their first date. Shikamaru and Chouji bought something on the way back to Naruto's house, Shikamaru got some fresh doughnuts from and Chouji got a bucket of chicken because there were already a lot of sweets coming to the table. They walked back to the house instead of rushing since the summer would be ending before they know it and they wanted to enjoy the warm nights while it lasted. With this thought in mind, Naruto decided that he would need to do something to keep the whole house warm during the winter. He didn't think about it before since he only shared one room with Kurama and the girls for the past year and a half, but if he was going to have others living with him, the place should be kept at a nice temperature for everyone. He started making mental notes on what to add to the design as they made it to the gate and then the door. "We're back!" Naruto called out as he let everyone else inside, Lilly hoped out of Chouji's arms and started pulling him over to the kitchen to show him something while Hanna was telling Kiba about something she found exciting earlier. Naruto closed the door once everyone was inside and went to go looked for Kurama after putting the cakes in the kitchen, on his way, Shikamaru walked with him. 

"So Naruto, are you going to be getting Kiba to join your clan too?" The Nara asked casually, he thought that it was the logical assumption to make since he bothered to bring Kiba to his house. Not only that, Kiba seemed to have a small crush on the blond as well as Kurama, whether he noticed this yet has yet to be known.

Naruto smirked as he entered the kitchen, "who knows." He put the cakes down next to a clone that was finishing up the food prep and left with Shikamaru following behind him.

"So, Naruto, did you try it out today?" Shikamaru asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Try what out?" Naruto looked back at him and saw the blush, "oh, that, yeah, I did." 

"O-oh, you did...on Kurama?" Shikamaru looked down at the ground as he found it hard to look the former container in the eye.

Naruto chuckled and threw his arm around Shikamaru's shoulders as they headed for the stairs. "Yeah, I did, why?" He leaned in close to the Nara's ear and whispered, "did you want to be first?"

Shikamaru felt his face heat up, "no, I told you, it's not like that. Stop making weird jokes, do you like making fun of me or something?"

"Hmm, yeah, it's fun," Naruto leaned in closer to Shikamaru and put a hand under his chin. 

Shikamaru jumped and tried to pull away from the blond, "w-w-what are you doing?!" He was startled by Naruto's action, but he was even more startled by how close the whiskered boy had gotten without him noticing. He saw Naruto's smirk turn seductive as he looked directly into his eyes with those icy blue orbs of his. That's when Shikamaru noticed that they were on the floor with the bedrooms, alone, "wh-what are we doing up here?"

"What do you think?" Naruto said as he got closer to Shikamaru while the other boy tried to back away from him. He ended up backing Shikamaru up to the wall which allowed him to pin him in place with his arms, he stared into Shikamaru's dark brown eyes. His hand on Shikamaru's chin, caressing the smooth skin, feeling how soft it felt, "what do you want to do?" He leaned in even closer until his face was only inches from Shikamaru's face.

"I-I..." Shikamaru was finding it hard to speak or even think with the way Naruto's icy blues captured him in their gaze.

"You, what?" Naruto asked looking down at Shikamaru's soft-looking lips, "tell me."

"I-" Shikamaru started but just then, something appeared next to them and hit Naruto in the head. "Uh..." Shikamaru blinked twice as ht tried to process what just happened, he looked to his left to see Kurama standing there angrily holding a book that looked about as thick as a brick.

"Well, well, well," Kurama glared at Naruto who was now squatting down on the floor holding his head in pain. "I said to myself, let's take a nap, just a quick one so that I can be up in an hour to play with this little brat again. But then when I woke up, I come out here to see you trying to have your way this poor deer when you just had a fox like me waiting in bad! Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Naruto? I'm waiting!" Kurama stated angrily as he tapped the thick ass book on his shoulder, prepared to use it on the blond again if he didn't like his answer, he looked over to Shikamaru, "did he do anything to you before I came?" Shikamaru shook his head, unable to speak, not that he would know what to say, "good," the redhead huffed looking back to Naruto. "Clearly I can't just let you out of my sites after you've to a taste, you can't just run around doing what you did yo me to other people if you didn't know. We're trying to build a clan here, not play games, Naruto! I'm sure that if I didn't stop you, you would have gone ahead and gotten him pregnant right here in the hallway, wouldn't you?"

Naruto grumbled as the fox, he's the only one who could sneak up behind him like that. He stood back up and glared right back at Kurama, "no! I would have stopped before things went too far!"

Kurama narrowed his amber-gold eyes at him, "would you have?"

"Of course! I'm not some sex-crazed pervert in heat, Kurama," Naruto folded his arms. He couldn't believe what he was heading, he had more control than that, didn't he? He was only teasing Shikamaru anyway.

"Hmph," Kurama pointed the book down at Naruto's crotch, "if that's the case, then why are you so hard right now?" 

"Wha?" Naruto looked down and covered himself, _"damnit! He's right, why am I hard? I was only teasing Shikamaru, so what's going on here?"_

Kurama smirked and Shikamaru looked like his face was competing with a tomato. Kurama stepped closer to the blond and got in his face until their faces were only inches apart, "looks like you still haven't learned how to control your dojutsu properly."

"The Renigan?" Naruto frowned, he sighed, he thought that he had controlled himself just fine just now. But from what he remembered from Kurama's explanation after he learned he had the Renigan, his body would react to any situation with someone that's perceived as a potential mate. He guessed his body was telling him that Shikamaru was a likely candidate. His shoulders slumped, "whatever, you guys can start heading down to the dining room while I take care of this," he already turned away from Kurama to head to their room so he could take care of business.

Kurama licked his lips, "would you like some help, Naru-chan?"

Naruto flinched as he thought back to earlier, "no!" And ran into the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Tsk, he didn't need to be so embarrassed about it. Oh well, he's still getting used to these kinds of things, so I supposed I have to understand," he turned back to see Shikamaru. The boy looked as if he was going to pass out as he leaned on the wall still, Kurama walked over to him with a smirk on his lips, "you look like you need some help, would you like to lay down?"

Shikamaru turned his head so he couldn't see Kurama, "n-no, I-I'm fine," he stuttered.

"You sure?" Kurama leaned in close and turned his face towards him, "you look like you might pass out. You sure you don't need my help?"

"I-I'm s-su-," Shikamaru started until he suddenly found Kurama's lips on his. His lips were soft as they moved against his, he couldn't think of a way to fight back against Kurama as he got lost in his golden eyes. Before he knew it, his vision went back and he accepted the darkness, this was too much for him to handle all at once, so he passed out.

Kurama caught Shikamaru in his arms before the boy could fall to the floor. "Hahaha, I knew I still got it, it's just been a while, that's all," he laughed happily. "That little brat's gonna rue the day he messed with me in the shower!" He picked up Shikamaru bridle style and walked downstairs, "I wanna play some games with you too, Shikamaru, but we'll have to leave that until after dinner. Hee hee, I wonder if Kiba might want to join, and maybe Chouji? We're going to have so much fun tonight!"

Meanwhile, down on the second floor, Kiba felt a shiver go down his back. "What's the matter, Mr. Doggy? Are you cold?" Hanna asked as she looked up at him from her arts and crafts table curiously.

Kiba waved his hand at her, "no, no, I'm fine, I just felt a little chill just now, but I feel fine now."

"Hmm, okay, if you say so," Hanna said before going back to her drawing.

* * *

**Thiry minutes later**

It was time for dinner and everyone was ready to eat. Chouji brought Lilly to the table, they were in the playroom with Hanna and Kiba playing with some of her toys. Chouji really liked playing with Lilly, she didn't make comments about his weight or made him feel bad about being bigger than others. They sat at the table after the Naruto clones finished setting the tables and called them to eat, by this time, Shikamaru had regained consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself in the living room with Kurama, thankfully nothing else sexual happened between them after that kiss, Shikamaru still felt embarrassed about it. It was his first kiss, after all. When those two entered the dining room, Chouji and Kiba noticed the slight blush Shikamaru was sporting, Chouji wanted to ask about it but felt that he had teased him enough for the day. He would ask him later. Kiba wondered what happened between Shikamaru and Kurama, he felt a little jealous seeing the Nara walk in with Kurama after seeing him go upstairs with Naruto. He wanted to spend time with Kurama too, but he didn't want to abandon Hanna to do it, she was a pretty cool kid for her age, as he came to find out. Unlike the other girls he's seen around her age, she wasn't into playing with dolls and having tea parties, she would father play with water guns and run around outside. And she loved Akamaru, it seems like she had been trying to get Naruto to get a dog for a while now but hadn't been successful as of yet. The last person to enter the dining room was Naruto. He sat down at the head of the table, Kurama, Hanna, and Kiba sat on his left, Shikamaru, Lilly, and Chouji sat on his right. With everyone present at the table, Naruto sighed tiredly, "let's eat."

"Thank you for the food!" Hanna said happily.

"Thank you!" Lilly smiled happily. She picked up her spoon and did her best to feed herself while also trying not to spill any of her food on herself or her booster seat. Naruto smiled at them and started eating his food, although he a little tired now, he was happy for the company. It was always him, Kurama, and the girls eating at th large table alone, while that was still nice, it felt good to fill a couple more seat. Somehow he felt that the house he spent years building and perfecting was a bit too big with just the four of them in it. He wanted to get more people to come over, if not as allies, then just as friends to hang out with. He never bothered to make friends before, but now he was going to have to change that to further his plans.

"Hey, Naruto?" 

Naruto looked up at Kiba, "hm?"

Kiba thought over what he wanted to say, "uh, thanks for letting us come to dinner. You even made something special for Akamaru," he looked over to where his furry partner was chowing down on his own meal on the floor before turning back to Naruto. "But...I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, it's just, you've changed lately."

"I've changed?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "how so?"

"You have," Chouji chimed in, "before you wouldn't talk to anyone. Yet, you've already invited me and Shikamaru to your hours twice." 

"Oh, so is that bad?" Naruto asked with a small grin wanting to see what they would think.

"I wouldn't say so," Shikamaru stated. "Yesterday, you said you needed allies for your clan, so it's only natural that you start befriending those you think are more suitable to help your cause.

Kiba looked at him with a curious look in his eye, "allies? Since when did Naruto need allies?" He turned to the blond, "just call us a friend. Not allies, it sounds like we're going off to fight or something." 

"Friends, huh?" Naruto took a drink of his lemon aid, "I think that might be a better way to look at things. So, does that mean you'll join me, Kiba, in being my friend?"

Kiba seemed a little confused but nodded his head, "sure, I guess. You don't seem half bad from what Kurama tole me about you."

"You guys talked about me behind my back?" Naruto turned a sly smile on Kurama wondering just what was it he said to make the Inuzuka so friendly with him now. Before, Kiba used the be one of the ones challenging him to fights, but that stopped after he went out with Kurama for the first time. "I wonder what was said."

"Only good things, naturally," Kurama said without missing a beat.

"If you say so," Naruto said as he continued on eating. After a while when everyone was done with their meals and were waiting on dessert, he spoke, "Kiba, are you curious?"

"About what?" Kiba asked.

"That night," Naruto answered. "When the Kyuubi attacked," Kiba had a look on his face that said he was but didn't really know how to ask about it. Naruto laced his hands together under his chin, "that night, when Kyuubi attacked, I was there."

Kiba looked up from the slice of cake he was just served, "yeah, you said that before. Weren't you just a baby back then, and what was with that thing you said before you left?" Naruto chuckled and started telling Kiba his story the same way he did with Shikamaru and Chouji. From start to finish, Kiba's attention was locked solely on Naruto, when he was done, Kiba sat back in his chair, thinking about all the things he was just told. "So you're saying that Kurama's actually the Kyuubi?" He asked looking from Naruto to Kurama, he wasn't sure he could believe it, but it was starting to make sense the more he thought about it. 

Kurama nodded, "yep, it's me, but as he said, the attack wasn't completely my fault." He explained about the masked man and how he was yet to be caught.

"Wait, so if that's the case, then why hasn't the Hokage gone out to find him yet?" Kiba asked jumping to his feet quickly, "and why's Naruto the only one getting bullied for containing your soul? But wait, how are you here if you're supposed to be inside the seal, and..." Kiba sat back down holding his head, "my head hurt."

Hanna patted Kiba's shoulder, "don't worry, Mr. Doggy, Papa is just Papa, and Kura-chan is just Kura-chan!"

Kiba thought about what she said for a moment before patting her head, "yeah, I guess you're right about that, Hanna." 

"I know!" Hanna smiled before sitting back on her butt to eat her cake, chocolate, as always.

Kiba turned back to Naruto, "so Naruto, you're really making a clan, huh? What's it called?"

Naruto smirked, "Kitsune."

Kiba blinked at him, "K-Kitsune, is that so, oh...Wait that's Kurama's-uh, nope, never mind." He dragged a hand down his face wondering why he didn't make the connection until just now. Shikamaru laughed, he turned to the Nara, "what's so funny, Shikamaru?"

"Nothing, nothing, just-you made the dumbest face just now." Shikamaru laughed, "it was as if I was watching a baby learning how to walk for the first time."

"You calling me a baby, Bambi?!" Kiba shot back.

Shikamaru smirked, "say what you want, at least I was able to figure it out in less time than you."

"Oh, you, urrg, whatever," Kiba folded his arms and turned his head away from Shikamaru. Naruto watched everyone interacting with each other and found it to be a nice change. "Oh yeah, by the way, how did everyone's test go? I was kinda shocked to know that there would be another genin exam after the first one yesterday, I thought we already passed until Kurani sensei told us differently." Kiba stated, "my teammates and I all managed to passed when we finally started working together."

"Us too," Shikamaru said.

Chouji nodded, "Asuma sensei tried to get us to turn on each other by holding Ino hostage. I was happy that it wasn't me since I'm kinda sure that Ino would have sold me out to save her own life." He turned to Kurama and Naruto, he was sure that they had already passed too, but he just wanted to ask to know who things went. However, by the gloomy looks on their faces he thought he might have been wrong, "what about you guys?"

Kurama sighed sadly, "we didn't get our test yet."

Naruto had a dark aura around him, "uh, Naruto, you look kinda evil like that," Kiba commented. "You okay?"

"Oh no, I'm just fine," Naruto picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of his cake, "just fine."

Kurama knew that look on Naruto's face, "uh, how about we talk about something else. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, would you guys like to help me out with a little project later? I could use an extra pair of hands if you don't mind."

The mentioned trio looked at each other thinking the same thing, _"this could be bad, but fun at the same time."_ They all turned back to Kurama with smiles on their faces, "sure."

After dinner, Kurama invited the trio to spend the night. Naruto told them that they wouldn't need to worry about clothes in the morning. He would just have his clones either make or lend them something after their baths like he did Shikamaru and Chouji that morning. With everyone on board, Chouji and Shikamaru found the rooms that they used the night before, Kiba picked a random room to sleep in and Kurama brought in extra pillows and blankets for Akamaru to use if he felt like it. Naruto put Hanna and Lilly to bed in their own room, which reminded him that he always allowed them to sleep in his room with him and Kurama. He wanted to give them their own rooms to sleep in in the future, so he made a note to add some kid's room into the upcoming renovations he was planning to start on in the next few days. When he was done with the girls, he made a clone to watch over them and left to go back to the first floor where he met Kurama waiting with Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. All three seemed to be waiting for him with Kurama by the door, bags on their backs. Naruto smiled, "your little projected didn't have anything to do with the training ground team seven was going to be meeting in the morning. Does it?"

"What do you think?" Kurama asked handing him an extra bag. 

Naruto chuckled, "you...well, I can't even say anything. Anyway, if you guys are coming, then come on," he addressed the other three as he made his way to the door with the bag. "We've got some work to do," he opened the door and walked out followed by the others, he locked it and turned towards the gate. "When we get there, I want everyone to be quick and try not to leave any trace of yourselves while we're there. I don't want that lazy ass to get any ideas when he shows up."

"I wonder if he's talking about his sensei," Kiba thought out loud.

"I can believe it," Shikamaru stated, "I heard that Kakashi Hatake was his sensei from Asuma sensei. Apparently, that guy's never successfully passed a team of genin before."

"Whoa, seriously?" Kiba asked surprised, he touched his bag wondering what was in it, Kurama only gave them the bags a minute ago, so they didn't get a chance to look inside. "Is he going over to the training field to find a way to mess things up or something?" 

"Nah, that's not how he rolls." Kurama turned back to them as they reached the gate, "it's more likely that he's going to leave behind...a little gift for our dear sensei. Naruto and I both have the seeking suspicion that he's going to try to get back at Naruto for his attitude earlier."

"Oh, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to make an example of you Naruto." Kiba said watching Naruto unlock and then lock the gate once they were on the other side of it.

"I'm counting on it," Naruto turned to them, "he'll try it. And when he does, I'll put him in his place."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you, Naruto?" Chouji asked a little worriedly.

"Of course I am, I take disrespect and laziness seriously when it comes to being proficient." Naruto started pulling his bag onto his back, "I've heard a few things about my new supposed sensei. One of them is how he's ways late to meetings and don't like doing reports until the last minute. I know a few more things about his attitude that pisses me off, so I'm not going to hold back. Not after the way he acted the last time I met him." The time Naruto was referring to was when he was nominated for ANBU captain the first time when he was only eight, because of an arrogant, silver-haired ANBU with a dog mask, his promotion was pushed back a few years. That really pissed Naruto off, and now he was going to be this guy student? Ha, Naruto wanted to laugh, but seeing this was a great chance for him to get even, he was planning to make Kakashi's life a living hell for the next couple of months. Naruto knows that he had to wait until the chunin exams come around, he was planning to at least get his team through the first stage so that he could pass. After that, Sasuke and Sakura would be on their own. Speaking of the chunin exams, he wondered id Gaara was going to be attending this year's chunin exams, there are two every year, so he was hoping to see the redhaired former container during at least one of them. He shook his head of those thoughts for now, "let's go," he took off jumping from roof to roof to get to the training field quicker. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji followed behind him with Kurama bringing up the rear after reactivating the security seals, they would have to remember to have Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru added to their security safe list later. In the training field, Naruto set to work in setting his trap.

* * *

**One hour and a half later**

Naruto, Shikamaru, Kurama, Kiba, and Chouji made it back to the house feeling like they did a job setting the trap. Although, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji had no idea what kind of trap they had just helped set. Kakashi would be in for quite the morning later. "Good night guys," Kiba said with a yawn as he entered his room for the night.

"Good night," Shikamaru said going into his own room, Chouji did the same for his room.

"Night, breakfast will be at six guys," Kurama called out before going into his own room.

"Okay," Shikamaru and Chouji answered, Kiba was probably already had his head on the pillow since he didn't answer. Shikamaru closed the door and was about to kick off his shoes and hope into bed but he jumped a little when he noticed someone was already sitting on it. "Naruto? What the hell man, you trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

  
"No, me? No, never," Naruto smiled innocently, but Shikamaru didn't trust that smile of his.

"Yeah, so what are you doing here? I don't remember you saying you wanted to sleep in this room tonight," Shikamaru stated watching the blond suspiciously.

"What am I doing?" Naruto asked as he got off the bed, "I think we should finish our talk from earlier, Shika-chan."

Shikamaru's cheeks tinted pink as he took a step back when the blond took a step forward, "what talk are you talking about?" He was flustered as Naruto came up to him, he didn't even think to open the door again to leave the room and find another to sleep in. Naruto already demonstrated how fast he could be when he wanted to be, his fight with Iko was like watching a blur of red and yellow attacking someone. "I don't remember," he backed up against the door as Naruto came closer still.

"Really, then allow me to remind you," Naruto said pulling Shikamaru towards him suddenly.

Shikamaru turned hid head away from Naruto as his face turned a darker shade of pink. "No thanks, I'm good," however, he already found himself being tossed onto the bed, Naruto was on top of him the second his back hit the mattress. 

"Aw, Shika-chan, don't say that you'll hurt my feelings," Naruto said in a slow voice near Shikamaru's ear that aroused the Nara.

Before Shikamaru could say anything else, Naruto's lips found his own. It surprised Shikamaru greatly how skilled he was, to say the least. Naruto's lips felt warm against his, he almost felt like he was melting as Naruto deepened the kiss, from that point, he let the blond do what he wanted. He no longer had the will to fight against him. Naruto's hands started roaming all over Shikamaru's body, going under his shirt to feel more of his soft skin underneath. He started unbuttoning Shikamaru's pants, pushing them down along with his pants, Shikamaru noticed this and pulled back from the kiss, "what are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" Naruto smiled as he looked deep into Shikamaru's eyes, "what, do you want me to stop." He could tell that Shikamaru didn't want him to stop, but he could tell that he was nervous, they both knew where this was going. he decided to comfort the other boy or else things wouldn't get far with him being so nervous, "don't worry, I'll be gentle. Just listen to me, I won't hurt those who are so precious to me." Shikamaru hesitated for a few seconds but decided to go with it, they were already on the bed anyway. Naruto smiled and continued to pull down Shikamaru's pants, Shikamaru lifted his hips to help get them off easier. When Shikamaru was pantsless, Naruto went back to kissing him, deepening the kiss further by sliding his tongue into the other's mouth. He started unbuttoning his pants as they kissed, he could already feel Shikamaru starting to get hard, so he helped him out by jerking off his soft member, stroking it gently. Shika's breathing got heavier as he backed away from the kiss again to get some air, he was used to jerking himself off alone in his room when he got horny, but having Naruto do it for him felt a little weird. It was new for him, it felt weird, but he didn't dislike it, he actually wanted Naruto's hand to go faster, he lightly grabbed Naruto's sleeve as a silent plea. The blond seemed to get the message and move his hand faster as he watched Shikamaru get closer to the edge before long. After another minute of this, Shikamaru couldn't take it any longer and squirted his cum into the blonds in his hand. Naruto moved down to Shikamaru's dick and started cleaning up the mess he helped make with his tongue.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise when he saw him do this, "what are-"

"Come on Shikamaru, you know you don't have to ask that," Naruto smirked up at him as he took the boy's dick in his mouth. He started sucking the softened member slowly, Shikamaru's face burned red as he watched Naruto's bead bob up and down on his dick. Shikamaru covered his face with his arms, he was too embarrassed to look at Naruto any longer, the blond smirked around the dick in his mouth before pulling back with a wet pop. "We'll be spending a lot more time together in the future, Shika-chan. You should get used to me doing this now," he reached his hand further up Shikamaru's body as he went under his shirt and started playing this his nipples. Shikamaru's breath hitched and his hips bucked, "looks like this sort of thing works on you too, ne Shika-chan?"

"S-sh-shut u-up," Shikamaru fought back the urge to moan.

"No way, I want to hear you moan all night," the blond opened Shikamaru's legs wider as he went back to sucking him off. He used all the skills he learned from Kurama earlier and got Shikamaru to cum again in next to no time. He swallowed everything in one go and licked his lips, "I almost forgot, this must be your first time with another person, isn't it?" He asked as he sat up to get a good look at Shikamaru's flushed and panting expression, he reached up to Shikamaru's face, "this is a good look for you, Shika-chan." He gently flipped Shikamaru on his stomach and smacked his butt making the other boy jump, Shikamaru looked back at him with a scared look on his face. Naruto caresses Sikamaru's ass with one hand as he took out a small bottle from his pocket, "don't worry, it won't hurt. I said I will be gentle, try to relax," he said soothingly as he opened the bottle, Shikamaru turned away from the blond as he felt him spread his butt. Naruto coated his fingers in the lub and pressed it against Shikamaru's hole, gently pressing against the entrance and working the muscle to loosen it up. Shikamaru shoved his head into the pillows to hide the sounds of his moans from the blond, Naruto's fingers felt uncomfortable, but also a little good. Naruto wiggled his fingers a little and found a spot that made Shikamaru's head jerk back in pleasure suddenly.

"Aaa~, N-Naruto, w-what-" Shikamaru pushed his head back into the pillow as he felt Naruto go after that spot again.

Naruto chuckled, "looks like I gound your G-spot, Shika-chan~" he sang happily as he kept stretching Shikamaru's entrance. Every now and then he would hit that spot suddenly just to see Shikamaru's reaction, he could tell that he was getting turned on again by the way his hips started jerking back on Naruto's hand. Naruto added another finger and continued his work until he felt that Shikamaru was wide enough to enter, he pulled his fingers away and Shikamaru whined at the loss. Naruto was loving the way the Nara was acting, he wanted to savor every moment as much as he could as he pulled his cock out of the restricting pants and put the lub on his dick.

"W-will...will I really get pregnant?" Shikamaru asked softly into the pillow, he was too embarrassed to ask any louder.

"Hm? What was that Shika-chan, I didn't catch that," Naruto smirked, he did hear it.

Shikamaru groaned and glared back at the blond, "will I really...get pregnant...." his voice trailed off into a whisper. He felt like his face was on fire, as he couldn't believe he was asking such a thing out loud.

"Good question, I'll let you know as soon as I do," Naruto smiled brightly at him. "I did this to Kurama this evening and we took three houses, so he's definitely pregnant by now since I came inside so much." He felt a pillow hit his face but it didn't hurt, he took the pillow Shikamaru throw at him and placed it to the side so he could see the blushing, and overly embarrassed glare Shikamaru was giving him. Instead of being scared or intimidating, he found the look to be quite cute, "sorry, sorry, but honestly I don't really know. You would probably be the first to notice the difference in your own body when it starts, and I'll be there for you both all the way." He leaned over Shikamaru as he lined up his dick to Shikamaru's hole, "but first, I'll have to plant the seed in your lovely soil for anything to grow."

Shikamaru found another pillow on the bed to bury his face in, "oh gosh, just shut up, Naruto! How are you able to say something so embarrassing?!" He yelled into the said pillow.

Naruto chuckled some more at Shikamaru's behavior, "I donno, I guess I'm just caught in the moment," he stated as he started pushing into Shikamaru's warmth. He felt the heat surround him just like Kurama, but it was less intense than before. When he entered Kurama, it felt like he was going to burn up from the pleasure, but with Shikamaru, it was a much easier warmth to get used to right away. He didn't really mind either of their heats, it felt nice either way. He pushed all the way into Shikamaru's cavern slowly, "damn your so tight!" 

Shikamaru couldn't help but moan as the blond filled him, " I-I f-feel so fu-full," he stuttered as Naruto entered him fully. It felt uncomfortable having something so big inside him, it felt different to the small vibrators he was used to using every now and then, Naruto was way bigger than any of them. Naruto slowly pulled out and pushed back in as he started to pick up a steady pace of going back and forth. Shikamaru's moans got louder as Naruto's gradually started to thrust into him faster and faster, they both moaned as they got closer to their climax. The bed started to rock violently from the movement, banging into the wall loudly, it was a good thing that Naruto put up a sound barrier in the room before they started all of this or else Kurama would have had his head. After a few more minutes of this, Shikamaru came again, making it the third time tonight, while it was only Naruto's first. Naruto thrust deep into Shikamaru's body and let his hot cum fill him up, Shikamaru went limp under Naruto, too tired to move after coming three times in a row. 

"That makes three times that you've cummed, Shika-chan, what's the matter, can't keep up with me?" Naruto teased him as he thurst deep into Shikamaru's body a few more times before pulling out of him fully. Shikamaru didn't respond to his teasing and he looked up to see that he was already sleeping. Naruto smiled, "looks like he really could handle it huh. Haa, well, I should let him sleep, I've had my fun," he tucked his cock back into his pants and pulled the covered over Shikamaru so he wouldn't get cold after taking off his shoes. He started for the door but he felt something pull him back, "huh?" He looked back to see Shikamaru looking at him with a pout on his face, he turned back to him, "what's the matter?" 

"You're going to leave me alone after taking my v-card like that?" Shikamaru said sleepily, "you're such a mean...papa..." he was a little mad that Naruto was leaving. However, his eyes couldn't stay open any longer and he quickly drifted back to sleep with his sentence trailing off.

Naruto laughed softly as he kicked off his shoes and got under the covers with Shikamaru, holding him close as Shikamaru snuggled closer to his warmth. "Well, if you gonna say it like that, then how can I refuse?" He gently took the hair tie out of Shikamaru's hair, it was worn out and coming undone a bit, showing how well used it was. He made mental note to get him a new one as he ran his fingers through his soft air before drifting off to sleep with him.

* * *

**The next morning**

It was seven thirty-five and Kurama was just walking up to the third floor after making breakfast for everyone. They usually took turns making breakfast, since they had a few more mouths to feed today. Kurama got up around six twenty, because he didn't feel like getting up early, and made breakfast. He had his clones set the table as he went up to call everyone, he gave Chouji and Kiba the clothes that Naruto set aside for them and the three of them went downstairs to have breakfast first before their bath. Hanna and Lilly were woken up by Kurama as well and brought down to the dining room to eat with everyone else. As everyone was eating, Kiba commented that Naruto and Shikamaru were still not up yet even though it was seven o'clock. Sure they were planning to leave late to spite the jonin and all, but how long did Naruto expect the food to stay warm? After Kurama worked so hard, even though he used clones to spit most of the work, he still wants him to get his ass up and appreciate his hard work damnit! Then it turned to seven-thirty and those two still weren't up yet? Oh no, Kurama would not be having any of that, so now he was marching up to the third floor and knocked on Shikamaru's dor first before he unleashed hell on Naruto. Kurama was planning to have him beg for mercy as he grinned him into a cumming mess for making him wait so long at the table. When he got to Shikamaru's door, he lifted his hand to knock on the door when he noticed that Naruto's chakra signature was still inside the room. He knew that Naruto snuck into Shikamaru's room to have some fun last night and fell asleep thinking he would come back to their room after. Now, don't get him wrong, Kurama could care less who Naruto slept with, they were building a clan after all, but still, he wanted another round to show Naruto that he wasn't all that. Without thinking, Kurama stepped back from the door and found himself flying into the room with a loud bang, waking the two up. "Uh, wha-what?"Naruto jumped up from his sleep at the sound of the door breaking, he looked around to see what caused it, fearing that some ninjas managed to find their way into the hose. However, he calmed down when he saw the person who was now in the room, "oh, Kurama, it's you." To tell the truth, Naruto was not even surprised that Kurama would do such a thing, he even did a summersault into the room like in those super old and cliche spy movies.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Shikamaru asked rubbing his eye, he had clung onto the closet thing in the bed when he heard the sudden noise. That thing so happened to be Naruto, and Naruto held him closely in return so he didn't bother moving away right away. They did sleep together last night, after all, Shikamaru's face heated up when he remembered last night.

Naruto noticed Shikamaru's blushing but kept it to himself as he looked back at Kurama, then the door. Kurama really managed to break the door down as it was now laying in two pieces on the floor, he sighed tiredly, "what the fuck, Kurama? Did you really have to break the door down like that? Now I have to put up another door.

Instead of feeling embarrassed, Kurama shot up to his feet and marched right up to Naruto. "How dare you not come back to the room last night!" He shouted.

"How dare I?!" Naruto said incredulously, "how dare you break down my door! Do you know how long it took to fit all these doors of this house? And I'll say it again, what the fuck, Kurama!"

"Don't take that tone with me, Naruto! I pacified for you to come back to the room with me last night!" Shot back the angry fox.

"Don't yell at me so damn early in the morning! And when the hell did you even say that?" Naruto shot back catching Kurama off guard, "the only thing you said was that breakfast was at six. That's it, so when did you say it?" 

"I uh," Kurama was flustered by the way that Naruto suddenly caught him and turned things around. He was even more flustered by how he didn't think of a comeback for it yet. "I...I said it when I was in bed, so there," he stated folding his arms indignantly. 

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "look whos being all loud and proud first thing in the morning." He sighed and got out from under the covers, letting Shikamaru go before standing, "I was having a good sleep before you decided to burst ion and alert all my senses like that. Now I can't go back to sleep," he yawned as he stretched his limbs, and looked back at the door, "you're still going to take responsibility for the door, though." He stated as he picked up Shikamaru's pants and underwear and gave it to him, "here, let's go have breakfast, I'm starving after last night."

Shikamaru's blush got deeper, "thanks," he stated as he got up and put on his pants.

"Stop ignoring me, how am I supposed to take responsibility for a door," Kurama huffed as he pouted and lightly kicked the air.

"You're going to help me put up a new one." Naruto stated as he yawned again, "oh yeah, and I won't sleep with you until tomorrow," he turned and headed for the door when Shikamaru had his pants on.

"What! But that's not fair! Naruto!" Kurama whined as he went after the two as they left the room.

"Well, no one told you to break do my doors, no did they?" Naruto said scratching his head with his hand in his pocket, he made it to the stairs and walked down to the first floor with Shikamaru.

Kurama sulked behind them all the way, "muu you're so mean to me, Naru-chan."

"Fair, is fair, Kurama, maybe next time you won't break down my doors," Naruto stated as they reached the first floor.

When they reached the dining room, Shikamaru sat next to Chouji and started taking out some food for himself. "Morning Chouji," he said tiredly as he set his plate down with his food, he yawned as he brought his chopsticks to his mouth.

"Morning Shikamaru," Chouji said as he poured his friend a cup of juice. "Sleep well?"

Shikamaru nearly chocked on his rice, "ahem, yeah, you could say that." He noticed someone staring at him and looked to find Kiba giving him a strange look, "what?"

"Nothing, you smell though," Kiba stated as he took a bite of his fish.

"Okay, I haven't taken my shower yet since I just woke up," Shikamaru sweatdropped, _"what the hell's that supposed to mean anyway? Can he smell Naruto on me from last night? I mean we did sleep together, but I guess an Inuzuka's nose is really as good as a dog."_ He sighed and went back to eating, _"whatever, I'll just ignore any more comments like that from him. I'm sure Naruto will get to him eventually, speaking of which,"_ he glanced over at Chouji, _"will he do the same to everyone that joins his clan?"_

"What's up Shikamaru?" Chouji asked, noticing his friends stair, "something on my face?"

Shikamaru swallowed his food, "no, it's nothing," he said focusing on his food again.

Chouji has been around his friend long enough to know when he had something on his mind. He guessed that he didn't want to talk about it here, "okay."

When everyone was done eating, they took a bath. Chouji, Kurama, and Shikamaru took a bath together like yesterday, with Kurama taking Hanna and Lilly with him to get them ready while Naruto got everyone's clothes ready. One of the clones took Akamaru to get a bath separately. He was just doing the final touches on a pocket when he felt someone come in behind him. He turned around to see Kiba standing by the door, they were on the third floor in the last room at the end of the hall, Naruto's office. He had some stacks of fabric, some manikins to drape his clothes on, and other materials he liked to work with on one side of the room, while the other side of the room head his desk, filing cabinets, and bookshelves. He turned to face Kiba, "what's up?"

Kiba walked into the room and leaned on the door to close it tightly and then lock it, "I wanted to talk to you." 

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his behavior, he folded his arms in front of him, "yeah? So why'd you locked the door? It almost seems like you might want to do more than just that, am I right?"

Kiba blushed, he slowly took a few steps towards Naruto, "I was just hoping that we won't get interrupted."

Naruto nodded his head, "yeah, sounds fair enough," he smirked. "So what did you wanna talk about?" 

"Because...I just wanted to..." Kiba looked down at his feet as he tried to think of what to do next. "I-"

"Kiba."

"Y-yes!" Kiba looked up at him wondering what he wanted to say. He was anxiously awaiting the blond's words. Naruto let his arms fall to his side as he walked over to the Inuzuka. Kiba tensed up as the blond drew near, but he didn't budge from his spot, Naruto rested a hand on the side of Kiba's cheek and smiled.

"How would you like to...say, mate?" Naruto watched as Kiba's face turned red, he couldn't help but chuckle, "well?"

"M-m-mate! W-w-what? H-h-how c-could you ask me something like that, are you s-stupid or something!" Kiba said embarrassed as he looked at the blond's icy eyes, he turned away from them suddenly. He couldn't face those eyes, after all this time, he thought he could control himself, he was the heir to the Inuzuka clan, he can't be gay! His mother would have three cows and ten dogs when she if she found out. He's had to hide it from others for so many years after he admitted it to himself, but then Kurama showed up and he thought that he looked feminine enough to pass as a girl, so he went out with him. When they went out on their date, Kurama kissed him after telling him that he was actually a guy, but Kiba didn't push him away, so Kurama told him that he knew his secret. When asked how Kurama replied with that he could just tell before they went out, the kiss was just to confirm it. After that, Kiba thought his life was over, but then Kurama told him that he would keep his secret because he also had a really big secret to keep from certain people too. From that day, he became good friends with Kurama, he might have been the only person he felt like he could actually be himself with, he hadn't even told his big sister about his sexuality yet. If he told her, then his mother would find out and he couldn't handle that.

"Kiba~" Naruto brought his attention back to him, "well, what do you say? Do you want to?" Kiba shook his head and kept his eyes from meeting his, "oh? Why not? You clearly like me, don't you."

Kiba's eyes snapped back to Naruto, "how-"

"How'd I know that you like me?" Naruto sighed as he pushed Kiba's hood from his head and started patting his head softly. His messy brown hair was surprisingly softer than it looked. "Kiba, Kiba, Kiba, I'm an ANBU captain, I can see through your facade from the start. The way you would start stuff with me for next to no reason, the fights, the way you would steal glances at me from the corner of your eye when you thought no one was looking. It was clear as day. I just assumed that you had a reason to not come at me full force and try something sooner to test your limits, even though it would have just ended with you below me. Still, you should have a little more confidence...and try to hide your emotions better when you're in front of me, you made it too easy to read you all the years." He chuckled, "I swear, you're almost as bad as Hinata."

"H-H-Hinata?" Kiba stuttered still taking in everything Naruto was saying, "what about her?"

"Well," Naruto shrugged and pulled his hand back from Kiba's hair, but Kiba took his hand in his quickly and placed it back to the side of his face. He seemed to have done it without thinking when he realized, he let go of the blond's hand, Naruto smiled at him which made Kiba's blush darken more. He placed a gentle hand on the Inuzuka's face, surprising him, "she has a crush on me too."  


"R-r-really?" Kiba's eyes widened, then he looked down with a frown, "well, I guess she would be a better fit for you since you're trying to build a clan and all. Yo-"

Naruto firmly gripped Kiba's face in his hand drawing his attention. "Who are you to decide things for me, eh, Kiba-chan?" He could see some curiosity and a little hope begin to enter Kiba's eyes, "I don't just like guys, I like girls too, so it doesn't matter if you or Hinata, I'll decide who I like. 'Kay?"

Kiba felt his heart skip a beat as he took in Naruto's honest smile, "y-yeah. Uhm, N-Naruto...e-earlier...with Shikamaru."

"Mmhmm, what about it?" Naruto asked as he let go of Kiba's face and began petting him, he was sure that if Kiba had a tail, it would be wagging happily behind him right now. "Are you jealous."

"No, I just..." Kiba looked down, too embarrassed to keep looking at Naruto, "I was just wondering. I-if you're b-building a clan, why did you..."

"Why did I sleep with Shikamaru?" 

"Y-yeah," Kiba was sure that his face was on fire with how hot it felt right now.

"Because I have a dojutsu called the Renigan," Kiba looked up at Naruto in surprise and confusion. Naruto continued to smile at him, "and that bloodline helps me make babies with guys. I can't say how well it works because I've never gotten anyone pregnant before, however, I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds. I must say, I am curious to see what you will bring to the table too, Kiba-chan."

"M-m-m-me!" Kiba's knees gave out just then as his body couldn't handle the weight of the implications of what that meant. Luckily, Naruto was there to catch him before he could hit the ground, "w-why me?" He asked looking up at the blond.

"Because I want you to fight with me," Naruto stated holding Kiba gently in his arms. He held him close enough that Kiba could feel the muscles he had under his shirt, "I want you to be by my side when I face all my enemies. I want to have people I can trust on my side, and that means you too, I will take you and anyone else that's will to fight with me on my side. But, I especially want you and a few other special people that I've chosen to bare the future of my clan. I'm not going to ask just anyone to that, I'm particular about these kinds of things. The person I chose should be kind, smart, devoted, and strong enough to not let anyone push them around all the time, you are all of these things. So, I chose you. Because you are strong and have potential."

"I do?" Kiba found the strength to stand again and looked into Naruto's eyes, "you really want me to be your mate?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have told you all that without wanting you, so what do you say?" Naruto held Kiba's chin in his hand and brought his face, "will you still refuse me?"

Kiba looked at Naruto's lips before returning to his eyes, "no."

Naruto smirked, "good," he kissed his lips gently. He felt Kiba's legs wobble and he pulled him close to him, holding him tightly so he wouldn't try to fall again. Kiba felt like he was a dream, Naruto seems to have taken all of his breath away from him in one go but he couldn't bring himself to push him away. Naruto deepened the kiss as he slides his tongue into Kiba's mouth, searching every part of him as he caressed his cheeks with his hand on the small of his back keeping him in place. There was a knock on the door and Naruto pulled away from Kiba, he licked his lips as he smirked, "let's pick this up tonight, okay?"

"O-okay," Kiba replied breathlessly.

**To be continued...**


	12. Wave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, my computer was acting up.

"Naruto, come on, we're going to be even later than we already are! More your ass you damn pervert!" Kurama yelled through the door as he banged on it.

"Naruto rolled his eyes at the fox's behavior, "I'm coming!"

"I don't need to know that, just get your ass out here! You know you have Shikamaru and Chouji's clothes in there with you!" Kurama yelled before walking away from the door in a huff. 

Naruto grunted his displeasure at Kurama's pissy attitude before turning back to Kiba, "let's pick this up later." He gave the boy's lips one more kiss before walking over to the clothes he finished making and picked them up, then he walked over to the door, "come on. We should go before Kurama decides to break down another door. Kurama nodded, unable to find his voice after Naruto took his breath away with that last kiss. Naruto gave Shikamaru and Chouji their clothes and went to go take a shower for himself with Kiba. When they were done in the bath, they got dressed and met the others by the front door. Naruto wore an all-black tracksuit with two vertical white stripes on the side of his arms and legs, black boots and a white undershirt with his headband tied around his neck. Kuramawore some white jean shorts that came down to his midthigh, a black shirt, and a green jacket with his headband tied around his right arm, he also had brown army boots like Naruto. Kiba had on a gray hoody that said 'Beware the Dog' in big bold letters, black cargo pants, and blue sandals, Akamaru was laying on his head under his hood while his headband was tied around his forehead. Chouji and Shikamaru were also wearing tracksuits, Sikamaru's was light green while Chouji's was a light orange, both of them wore their blue sandals this time and had their headbands placed on their arms. Naruto decided that Hanna and Lilly shouldn't be home alone after they enjoyed a nice day out with them the day before so he was going to take them with him to the training field to let them come out the house more. He knew that Hanna needed to start school soon and he wanted her to get used to being outside more often. Hanna was dressed in the mini-version of Naruto's tracksuit with a red shirt and sneakers instead, while Lilly wore a green tracksuit with a blue shirt and sneakers. "Alright, let's go." At the training field, Naruto and Kurama got the sink eye from both his teammates and supposed future sensei. After a bit of back and forth, they got on with the test. Apparently, they were supposed to get the bells around Kakashi's waist to pass. Two people would be kept on the team while the other two went back to the academy, Sasuke boasted about how he was going to get the bells first while Sakura swooned about how he was so cool. Naruto and Kurama could care less, they had been on enough missions to know that teams of two are usually reserved for high-class elite jonin and ANBU captains only, there was no way this was the real test. Naruto proved his theory correct when he and Kurama forced Sakura and Sasuke to team up with them by offering the starving duo some food if they passed. With some resistance from Sakura and arrogance from Sakura, they managed to pass the test by. Naruto and Kurama used Sasuke and Sakura as decoys to distract Kakashi in a fight while they snuck up behind the jonin using some of their ANBU skills to take the bells without him noticing. Just when Kakashi was about to fail them for not working together, Naruto held up the bells and tell him, "we didn't fail, you failed." 

Kurama nodded his head, "yep, anyone with some real skill could have stopped to figure out that you wanted us to work together from the start."

"I see, and how did you come up with that conclusion?" Kakashi asked while Sakura and Sasuke sat back on the floor, it wasn't liked they could really do anything with the way Kakashi had tied them up to the stumps.

"Simple," Naruto started, "by making us come at a crazy hour to do a test. Then have us not eat anything from last night to this morning, it was almost a use fire way to make sure that we were at each other's throats angry from hunger. But it's a good thing that Kurama and I had a good meal last night and this morning, or else we wouldn't have been able to think straight."

"Then again, we could have also grabbed something in town and eat it on the way here five to seven hours after the meeting time. That way it wouldn't technically be breakfast time anymore because people usually stop selling breakfast here around ten anyhow."

"What, so you're saying that you disobeyed my orders and ate when I told you not to?" Kakashi asked narrowing his eyes at Naruto and Kurama.

"Yep," Kurama nodded.

"Basically," Naruto yawned.

Kakashi grumbled, "I really should fail you for that," he sighed, frustrated by these two. "However, since you found the true meaning of the test and got Sasuke and Sakura to work with you somehow, I guess you all pass. We begin out missions starting first thing in the morning, on time this time," he glared at the two a minute longer before walking over to Sakura and Sasuke to untie them from their ropes. Kurama shared a high-five with Naruto when Kakashi's back was turned. As promised, they handed over the lunches Kurama prepared for them to Sakura and Sasuke and took the girls out to eat someplace nice. It wasn't every day they passed they got to pass a ninja exam so easily, they wanted to celebrate their luck. So they found a nice place for takeout and had another nice day at the park. Around lunchtime, Kiba and his teams found them, along with Chouji and Shikamaru. Ino seemed to have wandered off to find Sasuke at some point so they excused themselves from Asuma's invitation to BBQ to hang out with Naruto and the others instead.

* * *

**Two months later**

Its been about two months since Naruto and Kurama became members of team seven with Sakura and Sasuke. And they were bored. They could do these types of missions at home themselves, so they didn't feel the need to have other people to come in and do it, but apparently, the villagers did. All the villagers ever requested was for the genin teams to watch their children, mow the lawn, do the laundry, babysit their children, buy the groceries, and so on. It was getting to the point where Naruto thought that most of them were being lazy, if it wasn't for the elderly that requested to help with the hard labor, Naruto would have quit right there and then. He was sick of being yelled at for doing the right thing, just because the villagers thought he was the demon fox that attacked the village over twelve years ago. However, try as they most, the parents that cussed out Naruto for 'corrupting their kid's minds' were foolish people. In fact, Kurama and Naruto were the ones to actually teach their kids some manners in the first place. The villagers especially didn't like the way that Naruto was so friendly with Lilly and Hanna when he brought them along for babysitting duty, they thought the two girls were hellspawn. One even tried to kill Hanna because her red hair reminded them of the Kyuubi. Naruto argued back that if Hanna's hair reminded them of Kyuubi so much, then what about Kushina's hair? It was just as red, wasn't? After that, Naruto decided not to bring Lilly and Hanna on these simple missions anymore, even though they were staying in the village, he had his clone take them out to remote locations to play instead. There were some kids that like Hanna's hair despite what their parents said, some kids even dared to become their friends in secret, which made Hanna and Lilly so happy. Yet, at the same time, Naruto gave orders to his clone to secretly kill any person that tried to harm his girls in any way, Naruto wasn't about to lose these two innocent kids to the village's evil ways. Aside from that, Naruto and Kurama ended up doing all the work for their team on the mission while the other three did nothing, but that didn't stop the clients from praising that three even though they saw the two do all the work instead. It was very annoying, and Sasuke seemed to get the most praise out of the three just for being an Uchiha. Of course, Naruto was salty about that and set forth a plan to get some petty revenge. Surely, the head of the Uchiha's was a proud enough man that he would not think that either of his sons would dare to be gay, or even try to be open about it, right? Because of Naruto's pettiness, a rumor spread around the village about how Sasuke Uchiha was well known in the Redlight District. Well known as in, he was a great lay, and there was some evidence to prove it. Of course, the evidence was only fabricated by a blond who wanted to see the boy suffer just a bit and a redhead who was tired off the Uchiha's arrogant advances. But, however true the rumor was, it made back to Fugaku and Mikoto, and Sasuke's life at home becomes very rough. There was also a rumor floating around about Sakura too, but that not important now.

Aside from rumors and petty revenge, Naruto's life was great. Two weeks after joining team seven, Kurama had some good news for him, he was pregnant! And that meant that Shikamaru was pregnant too. Kiba wasn't showing any signs just yet, but the night after the joined team seven, Naruto had filled Kiba's belly well, so he was sure that the Inuzuka was also on the list of pregnant partners. Hanna and Lilly found out that they were going to be big sisters and jumped for joy, but they were told to keep it a secret from the villagers, or else they might try to hurt their brothers and sisters in the future. This news made the two girls cry and ask questions, so Naruto told them about Kurama being the Kyuubi and how he was mistreated because Kurama was sealed inside of him. The girls didn't really understand everything, they just knew that the people they cared about was hated by the village, so they promised never to tell anyone about their brothers and sisters. With that said, the girls were still very happy to be big sisters, they were so happy that they told Hinata and Shino since they weren't villagers and they trusted them. Naruto let it slide because he also trusted Hinata and Shino with the information, but it did lead to them finding out about Naruto's bloodline. Speaking of team eight, Naruto had ended up taking them under his wing and training them every so often he had time and was in the village. If he wasn't in the village because of ANBU duties, he would send a blood clone over to them to pick up where he left off. Because of Naruto's training, Hinata became less shy around him and gained more confidence in herself. Her clan definitely noticed a difference, but Hinata didn't reveal anything to them so they kept their assumptions about her the same as before. Naruto was also able to save up enough money from his ANBU mission to not only start a clan but to support it for many years to come even if he wasn't working often. It was a good feeling to have when he saw his plans coming together so smoothly. Now he just wished that he had time between doing reports and doing the villager's chores disguised as D rank mission, so he could get the permits done to approve his clan! He wanted to take a break from both sides of his life to just hanging out with his family and friends for a few days, he wanted to celebrate with Hanna and Lilly for their upcoming birthdays! He especially didn't want to miss 'Gatcha Day', it was like the celebration of their birthday but for when Naruto brought home both Hanna and Lilly for the first time. He had to miss it last year and have clone take part instead, so he wanted more than anything to make it this year.

But that didn't happen. Why? Because Minato Namikaza decided that enough was enough and gave their team a fucking C rank instead of D two weeks before Hanna's birthday! Since they didn't know what day Hanna was on, they decided to put it on the day they met her, and then Lilly's birthday would be two days after on her actual birthday. Gatcha day was another two days later, falling on a Saturday this time. And now they had to leave the village, officially, to take some old man back home to build a stupid bridge for about two weeks, so on the way back, they might just barely make Hanna's birthday. That is if nothing happens on the mission that caused them to stay too long over there. So Naruto was pissed, and Kurama was pissed and pregnant, so now Minato was sitting very uncomfortably in his office while the two boys glared flaming daggers into his very soul. "Ahem, as I said, I will be giving you this C rank mission to protect Mr. Tazuna over here. This is a C-rank mission is to protect Tazuna on his way home and stay with him for about two weeks while he builds a bridge connecting the mainland to the island his village is located on. D-do you have any q-questions?" Minato couldn't help the stutter as the glare from the two boys were getting more heated by the second, it almost looked like they were surrounded by flames!"

"Naruto, stop staring at your father like that!" Kakashi stated as he made a move to punch Naruto in the back of the head, but Naruto caught his hand instead. The blond turned his heated glare on the Hatake that made him shirk back, fearing for his life. "S-sorry," he mumbled out and took back his hand from Naruto's crushing grip when the blond let him go. He always thought that there was something strange about the young blond, this wasn't exactly the first time he witnessed his strength either, he had seen it first-hand many times before. For example, whenever he would have him face off against Sasuke in a practice match of sorts to see who would win, Naruto always ended up throwing Sasuke into a tree or the river, or even a lake. Whatever seemed closet at the time. Yet, this was the first time that he noticed how cold Naruto's eyes looked, it sent shivers down his spine just looking at it. "Uh, let's all meet at the main gate in an hour," Kakashi said as they walked out of the room.

"Are you actually going to be on time this time, Kakashi?" Kurama asked irritated about the fact that he might miss his precise Hanna's birthday.

"Yes, yes, I'll be there on time," Kakashi sighed, ever since the first day, his team had never let him forget how late he always was. Ever since he took on the team, every time he reached the meeting point late, someone would mysteriously sneak into his house and paint threatening messages on his wall in paint. Or, he hoped it was red paint, it looked too close to blood to be anything other.

Naruto scoffed, "you better, or else you won't just be getting a threat painted on the wall this time, Hatake," he stated angrily as they exited the tower. 

Kakashi stopped, "was that you who's been sneaking into my house?" He asked suspiciously, he had a feeling, but this kid was only a genin. He had ANBU level traps set around his home, so how could it be?

Naruto turned a glare on him, "just listen to what I say, Hatake, or else." He narrowed his eyes at the jonin for a second before continuing the walk with Kurama in tow, who also threw him a glare. Thankfully, Sakura and Sasuke could read the mood well enough that they weren't getting involved. They had no idea what Naruto was talking about, or why the two were so angry today when they just got themselves a C rank mission, finally, they found it strange. But, if they knew what was good for them, they would shut up and leave well enough alone. Thus the team left the twoer without anyone being thrust out of the window or off the roof for that matter. Outside, the team split apart to go home and pack while Naruto and Kurama had to prepare themselves to tell their sweet baby girls that they might not make it back to their party in time. On their way home, they came across Shikamaru and Chouji, the former looking even paler than usual due to his morning sickness draining the life out of him so far. Shikamaru was jealous of Kurama not having to throw up all the time, somehow instead of throwing up all the time, Kurama would just be hungry all the time. Naruto just chalked it up to the fox being a fox. Or something.

"Hey, guys!" Chouji said cheerfully as they walked up to them and started talking for a while.

"Hey Ch-chan, Shika-chan, how are you guys doing?" Naruto asked calming down a bit.

"I kind of want to die, but I guess I'll be alright," Shikamaru sighed tiredly. "Man, how do women do this all the time? I'm so sick that I can't even keep a slice of bread down!"

Naruto chuckled, "maybe you can ask Kurama his secret to not having the sickness and he might give it to you." 

"Really?" Shikamaru looked hopefully a Kurama, "is there a secret, Kurama? Please tell me, I'll do anything!" Kurama smirked, he had a tempted look on his face, Shikamaru knew that look and leaned forward, desperate to get the deal. He leaned over to Kurama's ear and whispered, "I'll even do that thing you like, you know, _that_ one?"

Kurama smiled brightly, "well if that's the case, then you've got a deal, babe!" He pulled Shikamaru into a hug and kissed him full on the lips, Shikamaru had to resist from melting at the tough of the redhead's soft lips on his. He couldn't help the moan that escaped his throat before Naruto and Chouji pulled them apart.

"Really guys? We're out in public right now, for Kami's sake, keep it in your pants!" Naruto huffed and Chouji chuckled at how his best friend nearly ended up doing it in public. As Naruto, Shikamaru, Kurama, and Chouji continued to talk as they started making their way back to the compound, Yoshino, Shikamaru's mom, and Kai, Chouji's mom, showed up. The two moms suddenly stepped in front of the boys, blocking their path and glared at Naruto, the blond, for his part, could tell that these two were beyond angry. Now, whether it was at him or their sons, it was hard to say. 

"Shikamaru Nara, what are you doing with this demon!?" Yoshino practically hissed, "how could you spend more time with it than with your own family! When are you coming home so that we can cleanse you of this demon?" Yoshino was openly talking about Naruto being a demon in front of the people passing by on the street, even though there's a law forbidding it. Not to mention they weren't that far from the Hokage Tower.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru wasn't in the mood to deal with his mother's bullshit mentally or emotionally right now. Ever since he got pregnant, he had started to notice he was quick to anger, even though he tried not to be. He would cry over almost nothing and be tired all the time. He didn't like loud noise or sudden movements which made him feel sicker, but most of all, he hated when people suddenly started yelling at him. Or at all. Which was what his mother was doing now. "Come on guys let's just go home, my feet are killing," it might be true that Shikamaru and Chouji only went home once or twice a week nowadays, but after spending so much time with Naruto, they started to see the obvious mistreatment that he went through every day. And for no reason. His own mother was apart of it, he always thought the way she badmouthed Naruto was because he was a mischievous kid that was badly behaved but compared to some kids, Naruto might have been the best. Although, that might have just been him being biased. 

Yoshino nodded, "it's about time-"

"Not to your house, to his," Shikamaru interrupted her and pointed a thumb at Naruto. "I'm gonna be staying with him for a while, so you can go back without me."

Chouji's mom stepped forward and grabbed Chouji's arm, "Chouji, it's time to come home now. Your father and I've been worried sick about you all this time! How could you stay in the presence of such a bad boy! And your even encouraging Shikamaru to do the same? Don't you think this has gone on long enough, Cho-chan?"

Chouji pulled his arm from his mother's grip. He was tired of everyone pretending to be nice all the time, instead of pretending, they should just show him how they truly feel. Chouji had a lot of dislike for liers growing up because he always had people talking behind his back about his weight. But what could he do about that? Yet, here's a kid like Naruto with nothing wrong with him other than he was forced to do something without his say, Chouji couldn't take it anymore. "No! I'm not going home with you, mom, if you want to see me, do it while I'm outside, but I will not come back home with you."

Kai was shocked, "but, Chouji? Why?" She had never seen her sweet and mild-mannered son talk back to anyone before, least of all her. She felt a little hurt by it, but she turned those feelings on Naruto, blaming him for her son's actions. "You! How dare you turn my son against me!"

"And my son too!" Yoshino stepped closer to Naruto, her anger was almost visible, "why are you doing this to us?!" 

Naruto gave them a bored look, he didn't feel like talking to them today. They had this conversation just last week, wasn't it enough? Kurama stepped forward, Naruto watched him cautiously, he would be ready to strike if anything happened to his mates. "Ladies, please, listen, I don't know why you can't get it through your heads right now, these two are ninjas now, by law, they're adults, so they could move out if they want to," Kurama explained.

"Move out!" Yoshino shrieked, "how can he move out when it's only a genin!? A chunin I might get, but a genin? No, no way!" She shook her head refusing the very thought of her son moving out so soon if he moved out now, how will she be able to make sure his life is going in the right direction?

Kai nodded in agreement with her friend, "that's right! Besides, a genin doesn't even make enough to move out anyhow, so how is it that you're staying with this brat?" She folded her chubby arms in front of her ample chest, "no, I refuse to believe it!" She turned to her son, "Chouji, how can you move out of the Akamichi household into the Uzumaki Namikaza house? Don't you have any pride in your bloodline, Cho-chan?!"

"No, mom, it's not that, I would just rather stay with Naruto." Chouji replied firmly, "he's not a bad guy, you guys just keep making him out to be. I don't want to live in a house where everyone's going after an innocent kid for no reason at all!"

"No reason!" Kai shouted, "Chouji, you might be too young to know this, but this boy is the-muph!" Kai had lost herself in the moment and almost let it spill about Naruto's secret. Luckily for her, Yoshino was there to stop her friend from talking by covering her mouth. 

"Sshhh, Kai, are you trying to get arrested?!" Yoshino hissed as she took her hand away from her friend's mouth. She turned back to her son and sighed tiredly, "alright, Shikamaru, I get that you want some independence, so I will give you a little more time to come to your senses. That goes the same for you too, Chouji," she said looking at both boys closely, "but when we come back to get you, we are going straight to the Uzumaki Namikaza compounded to take you back home, even if it's by force, you understand me?" 

Shikamaru and Chouji shared a look at each other. No one had figured out that Naruto no longer lives at the Uzumaki Namikaza house anymore. They still wondered how the Hokage didn't seem to notice it very much either. He doesn't seem to be saying anything about it either. Shikamaru shrugged turning back to his mother, "yeah, crystal clear. Bye," then he walked around her on his way to Naruto's actual home, Kurama and CHouji followed behind him.

Naruto paused in following them for a second and stared up at the two women. He couldn't really bring himself to feel sorry for them, not after all the hell they put him through when he was younger until now. He let out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding and addressed the two. "Listen, ladies, you're full of shit yo think that I'm doing anything harmful to your sons. They are living with me of their own free will, they have brains of their own, just let them use it, I'm sure that you've taught them right from wrong already. So let them decide what to do from here on, they shouldn't be held back from choosing what's right, right?" He didn't bother waiting for their answer as he followed behind the trio, going back to his house to pack and also tell his girls the bad news, he already had a lot on his plate. Plus he was in a bad mood, so he didn't have much patience. After some crying from the girls that their papa was going to be gone for so long that they might not see him for their birthdays this year was too much for them to bear. Lilly cried he hardest, nothing they did could calm her down, while Hanna wasn't any better, she was at least able to stand at the door and wave goodbye to Kurama and Naruto with tears in her eyes. Shikamaru promised them that he and the others would take care of the girls with his clone so they needn't worry so much about them. Naruto was regretful of leaving, but even though he was sad, he had to go. For all he knew, this Tazuna guy was okay and had a family of his own to get back to. Naruto couldn't leave a man like that to fend for himself, especially when lazy Kakashi, dumbass Sakura, and arrogant Sasuke were the ones that would be coming along. If it was only the three of them protecting Tazuna, Naruto felt that Tazuna's life would have been forfeit the moment they stepped out the gates. At the gate, they were somewhat surprised to see Kakashi waiting there at the gate with Sakura and Sasuke instead of making them wait for hours and hours. Their client was an old man, civilian, and drunk. Naruto could smell the alcohol from a mile away, Kurama could too and he didn't seem to like the smell all that much since his heightened senses were more sensitive now.

Kakashi saw them coming and put his book away. "Alright team, this is Mr. Tazuna, our client for the mission, he will be heading back home to finish building a bridge for his village. We are to protect him during this time, everyone understands?"

"Yes," Sakura said standing at attention, while the others of her team stayed silent.

"Alright, let's move out," Kakashi stated as they got into formation around the bridgebuilder. Kakashi was in the back, Sasuke was in the front. Sakura took up one side of the front, Kurama took up the other side, and Naruto was just walking as the extra wheel. Since Kakashi didn't think up a spot for him to be him, he was simply the 'spare tire' of sorts, but that was fine with him, he could always change spots with Kurama whenever the pregnant boy couldn't take the alcoholic smell. As they walked further from the village, Naruto secretly summoned a wolf to patrol the area ahead of them, Dante, his would summons, nodded and did just that. 

**"what would you like for me to do, Naruto?"** Asked Dante in a low whisper so the others wouldn't hear.

Naruto nodded and reached into his pocket and took out an exploding tag that was in the shape of a leaf. He walked ahead and dropped the leaf tag into a puddle, when the others walked passed it, a small bit of electricity burst from the puddle and an explosion heard. Everyone jumped and turned back to look at the puddle, then at Naruto, "what?" He asked ignoring their gaze, "I didn't do anything, and you can't prove it." It was true, no one could because one saw him take out anything since they were too busy looking everywhere else at the time. Kakashi did see Naruto holding a leaf before and thought nothing of it so he was surprised when he heard the explosion go off. Naruto looked behind everyone to see two people appear where the puddle, "oh look, it's the Demon Brothers," he stated casually as he walked over to the two brothers.

"What?" Kakashi looked back to where Naruto was walking over to the two brothers. "How do you know who they are?" He asked suspiciously.

"Because a Bingo book coast seven ryo at the shinobi shop," Naruto commented as he checked the two ronin. He checked both of their pulses to see that both of them were still barely alive, he took out a paintbrush and ink as Dante came over to watch. 

**"It's been a while since you called on me, Naruto, I thought you had forgotten about me,"** the wolf summons joked. 

"Me? Never," Naruto smirked as he finished the seals on both brothers and stood up, he made a hand sign and the two disappeared.

Sasuke stepped up, "hey dobe, what did you just do with those two people just now? And why do you have a dog with you, first you bring your whiny kids on our first mission, then you bring your pet?" He scoffed as he folded his arms, "are you really that incompetent?"

Dante looked over to the Uchiha, he had been observing the whole team as well because he heard that his new summoner was placed on a new team recently. **"Naruto, is that your new teammates? This arrogant pleb?"** "He asked looking directly at Sasuke.

Naruto reluctantly nodded, "sadly, yes, This is Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, the beanpole over there is Kakashi Hatake." He turned back to Dante, "you already know Kurama."

Dante nodded, he turned to the old man, **"and the old man?"**

"He's our client, Naruto replied putting his stuff away.

Kurama came over to Dante and gave him a big bear hug like he was a teddy bear, "oooh Dante, it's been too long!" He nuzzled his face into the wolf's fur happily, Dante's fur was so soft that he was a little jealous but loved it. "When are you going back, I wanna take a nape."

**"I told you before, Kurama, I'm not a body pillow for you to use whenever you want,"** Dante sighed.

Naruto shook his head, "Kurama, what about me?" He looked at the fox boy with a pout, "aren't I soft enough?"

Kurama kept nuzzling Data's neck, "no way! Your abs are too hard, I wanna sleep on something soft!"

Naruto frowned, "that's so mean, Kura-chan," he looked up at Dante feeling a little jealous. "No fair, Dante," the said wolf summons looked away from his summoner as he didn't want to participate in this debate again.

"Naruto, who is this? Why do you have a Wolf summons with you?" Kakashi asked since he knew that Wolf summons was hard to locate in the Elemental Nation. People were sure that Wolf's summoning contract was a myth, that is until he saw once of the said wolfs in person today. _"How is he able to summon the wolfs? I thought that they were hard to summon and needed a strong summoner with a good soul, so why does Naruto have their contract? I didn't even notice when he summoned it."_

Naruto could tell what Kakashi was thinking and smirked, "that's for me to know. Besides, there's a bigger question here," he turned icy blue eyes on Tazuna who flinched on his gaze, "is there something that you forgot to tell us? Mr. Tazuna?" Kurama looked up from his nuzzling to listen to the bridge builders' explanation. 

Tazuna frown but nodded, he sighed. "You see, my village is being terrorized by this mad businessman named Gato. He sends his goons to the village every day and robs us of everything we have, he even takes people hostage to pay for their families depts. It's gotten to the point where we're in poverty, I couldn't take it anymore and decided to build a bridge to connect our village to the mainland so we could get out from under Gato's thumb. But recently I, as well as half of the people in our village, have started coming down with a sickness that we don't have the means to cure on our own. We can't say what this sickness is, just that it comes from the polluted water that Gato has left for us to drink, while he takes the clean water from our reserves." Tazuna clenched his hands, "I don't know how long I have until this thing kills me, so I want to finish the bridge before I die, I'll be leaving my poor daughter and grandson behind in this case, but there's nothing I can do." He looked at the ninjas before him, "please say you will help me out, I can't pay you the required amount right now, but I promise, once we build the bridge, we'll be able to give you the money. Just please."

"No need to beg, Mr. Tazuna," Kurama stated with a kind smile. "I don't know about those cowards over there, but Naruto and I can protect you while you build your bridge."

"Who are you calling a coward!" Sasuke yelled glaring at Kurama.

Kurama turned his nose up to him, "I just call it as I say it," he smirked as he hugged the great white wolf closely.

Sasuke looked like he was going to try something, but Naruto stepped in front of Kurama protectively, not that he really needed to. "Got a problem, Uchiha? You wanna die?"

"And who are you to say such a thing to me, dobe?" Sasuke shot back angrily.

"I know that I can take you and put you in your place, that's who I am, Uchiha." Naruto smirked, "I could show you a thing or two right now. But if you're scared...well, I'll try to go easy on you, little slut," Naruto knew that this insult was especially harsh for the other boy because of what has been going on at Sasuke's house lately. He watched Sasuke get angry to the point of changing colors, "what, you wanna go?"

"That's enough!" Kakashi stepped in between them and placed a firm glare on Naruto. "There will be no fighting in front of our client, understand, Naruto?" The blond shrugged his shoulders, he turned to Sasuke, "you clear?" Sasuke huffed and grumbled something under his breath, Kakashi sighed, wondering if taking on this team was really a good idea, "fine. Since it seems like you guys want to act this way, then we're going back to the village to get another team to take on this mission instead, one with more skill, come on, let us go." Kakashi started walking but noticed that he was the only one moving, "did I not make myself clear earlier? Let's go, now!" He stated sternly, but still, no one moved. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto, while Naruto and Kurama were paying more attention to the wolf between them, and Sakura was just looking around confused. It was clear that she had no idea what she should be doing now, or whose side to take. Her crush or her sensei's.

Naruto turned to his so-called sensei, "uh, yeah, no. Sorry, but also not, I don't see the point in going all the way back to the village when we're already past the border. What good will it do to get a whole new team to help Tazuna's village out when we're here...well me and Kurama are here. And Dante's pretty good in combat too, so it's a waste already to just leave and not complete our first mission outside the village. It sort of makes me think of how incompetent you are as a sensei yo allow your team's first C rank mission go down just like this after we've been stuck on D ranks all this time."

It was a challenge to Kakashi's honor as a ninja and a sensei. He's never passed a team until now and this happens, it wouldn't look good on his reputation if other people found out that he didn't lead his team properly. Knowing all this, Kakashi sighed in frustration and turned back to the team fully, "fine, have it your way, but anything that happens from here on out will be on your guys, since you wanted to continue on with a clearly mislabeled mission rank. I will have to call for back up when we get to our rest stop later," Kakashi took the lead this time and started walking in the direction to the Village of Wave.

Naruto grinned, "he's so easy to read."

**"You were playing with him, Naruto, was it fun for you?"** Dante asked feeling slightly bad towards the jonin, but not as much as he would have if didn't know of Naruto's past. 

Naruto shrugged his shoulders as the team reformed around Tazuna, "eh, this team is the cross I have to bear. But it's only for a short time, soon we'll be on to a bigger and better thing, Kurama and I, that is."

**"I see,"** Dante paused his walking and Naruto turned back to him.

"What is it?" Naruto asked noticing the wolf's ears flick a little as if he heard something in the distance.

**"We're being watched."**

"Are they close?" Kurama asked, after getting onto Dante's back, he was getting tired of walking anyway.

Dante's ears perked up as he listened to his surroundings for a second before shaking his head. **"No, it looks like they're only watching us for now,"** he turned to Naruto, **"what would you have me do?"**

Naruto chuckled, "nothing." He turned back to following his pathetic excuse of a sensei, "we're going to sit back and watch the show for now. Our job is to protect Tazuna while he builds his bridge. So when we get to Wave, we're going to do all that's in our power to help that village out so we can make it back to Hanna and Lilly's party. That's our only goal for right now."

Dante smiled, **"I knew I made the right choice in picking you, Naruto,"** he stated as he started following behind Naruto.

**To be continued...**


	13. Wave 2

**The next day**

When Kakashi's team made it to the resting point, Naruto decided to take a look at Tazuna to see what he could do. From what he could tell, whatever illnessTazuna contracted was progressing fast, it seemed similar to cancer, but...different in away. It was killing the old man, that was for sure, and quickly at that. Naruto sighed, there was nothing he could do about this. There was no reversing the amount of damage the old man's body has gone through, he wanted to know how long this illness had been plaguing Tazuna and his village fo it to do so much damage. He wanted to know how they contracted it, he said it was from water pollution, but how? And why was it that there was so much that half the village would face such a fate. He wanted to know what kind of illness this was and if it was contagious, and if so, how much. More importantly, how did the water become like that, yes, Naruto had many questions he wanted to ask Gato when they meet, he would make sure to have a long talk with him then. That aside, the only thing that Naruto could do for Tazuna right now was to give him a Pain Killer Seal, to ease his suffering. He was sure that it helped a little because, by the next morning, some of the natural colors in Tazuna's face seems to show up again. The old man seemed a little healthier than when they first met him, a little livelier too compared to his almost zombie-like appearance from the day before. The team continued on to their destination to meet Tazuna's acquaintance in order for them to cross the lake that separated the mainland from Tazuna's village. "You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up," Naruto stated after they got to the location and met Tazuna's friend. The person had only a small rowboat that would just hold Tazuna, and some members of the team, so Naruto thought that trying to fit a giant wolf in there was asking too much. 

Sakura rolled her eyes at the blond boy, "yeah right, as if you would be able to catch up without the help of the boat. What are you trying to say, that you're gonna swim across, huh dobe?" 

Naruto ignored Sakura's lame insults as he turned to face Dante, "let's head on ahead of them so we can scout out the area. I have a feeling that I might find something interesting on the other side," he explained.

Kurama yawned, he wasn't fully awake just yet, "oh yeah? Got a friend waiting over there for ya, kit?"

"Maybe, I don't know yet," Naruto stated as he helped the redhead get onto Dante's back. "But, once we get over there I'll know for sure," he got into Dante's back behind Kurama. He looked over at Kakashi, "we'll be going now," Dante nodded and took off in the direction of the village in a flash.

"Wait, Naruto where do you think you're going!" Kakashi nearly shouted as he watched Naruto take off, he was surprised when he saw the wolf funning on top of the water's surface without trouble. It was kind of impressed by the sighed until he realized that sight included his troublesome student, he sighed and turned back to the boatman. "Sorry for the trouble, my student is excitable because it's his first time outside the village."  
  


The boatman huffed, "whatever, just get into the boat. We don't have all morning, this is when the fog is at it's thickest, so we have to hurry."

"Right," Tazuna nodded as he got into the boat with his friend. He watched the others get into the boat as well before he turned to his friend, "thanks again for doing this, Yoshi." The man grunted grumpily before pushing off from the dock and started rowing, Tazuna turned to the team, "we should be getting there soon. The bridge will come into a few minutes to show that we're close, but please remember to be quiet from here on. Gato's men like to patrol the area early in the morning and late at night to try to catch people entering and leaving the village."

"Hn, you guys seem to have it kind of rough, don't you, Sasuke commented. Tazuna nodded and they made the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

**With Naruto**

Naruto and Kurama reached the mainland on Dante's back in a matter of seconds. As soon as they stepped on to dry land, Naruto jumped off Dante's back and started making his way through the forest on foot while Kurama stayed on the wolf's back. Naruto could sense something unnatural about the fog surrounding the path. He felt traces of chakra and immediately identified the signature, he smirked, he walked down the path for a while with the wolf by his side when suddenly he heard something flying their way. Naruto and Dante both jumped out of the way in time to miss a giant knife, the big weapon embedded itself into a tree horizontally, a second later, a person landed on it. Naruto stepped back onto the path in full view of the person, he smirked up at them, "well, well, well, as I live and bread. Is that a cow I see? Or is that just you, Zabuza?"

The said ninja looked closely at the cocky brat that so boldly addressed him this way. He was thinking of a way to torture this person when his eyes focused on the golden blond hair and icy blue eyes staring back at him. Zabuza chuckled as he hopped off his sword, "Naruto! Is that you, little brat? What the fuck are you doing out here?" The ronin walked over to the blond boy after ripping his sword out of the side of the tree in one easy swoop, he had a hand on his hip as he stopped in front of the boy. He looked him up and down at his appearance as he noticed something different about him, "huh, why aren't you wearing that ANBU uniform like always? What, did they finally kick your overpowered ass outta there or something?"

Naruto chuckled, "nah, nah, I've got a team of my own now, a pathetic genin team to be exact. I'm still in the higher ranks, I just needed to lay low because of the whole age and Kyuubi thing, ya know?" He stated before remembering something, he turned to his side and motioned at the bushes, "by the way, have I introduced you to Kurama yet? You guys met before, but this time he's got his own body."

"Eh? You mean you actually freed the Kyuubi from its seal?!" Zabuza was amazed, he remembered back when he was still just starting out as a ronin when he met Naruto as Fox for the first time. They ended up throwing hands at first, but after a while of meeting each other coincidently on the road, or so he kept telling him, they started to get to know each other. Turns out, Naruto was a pretty cool kid and would help him out of trouble every now and then, and he would help him with some missions when he didn't have anything better to do. Naruto also helped him out in the financing department by doing favors for him, the kid didn't seem to be all that rich by the way he acted, but the pay was well whenever he worked for him so he couldn't complain. However, that was a story for another time, what Zabuza was really curious about now was how Naruto was able to be both an ANBU and a genin at the same time, was Konoha's system that easy to manipulate that a mere child could do it? Those were questions that he had asked before, but the kid never gave him a straight answer on the subject. Turning to the sound of the bushes, Zabuza's eyes widened to see a giant wolf walking over to him that was about the same height as him, if not a foot taller, on his back sat a little girl with stunning red hair and amber eyes. She had fair skin that seemed to glow and an innocent face, she reminded him vaguely of his apprentice, "you have the Wolf Summoning contract, eh? I suppose that's to be expected, since it is you and all," Zabuza commented as the girl was helped off the wolf's back by Naruto.

"If it's surprising, then there's nothing I can say about it. It was kinda a surprise to me too," Naruto said helping Kurama steady himself on the ground. "Anyway, this is Kurama," he stated gesturing to the boy next to him."

"What's up Zabuza, how's life on the run these days?"

Zabuza chuckled, he couldn't really be surprised by the fact that he was now talking to the Kyuubi in actual human form. "It's been a pain in the ass most of the time, but we get by," he signed as he held his sword over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way, let me introduce you to my student, he's a bit broken in the head, so I think you two will get along just fine," he waved his hand to a tree a few meters away from them and someone jumped down from it. The person was tall and slim dressed in hunter ninja clothes and mask of the Hidden Mist village, they walked over to them as Zabuza introduced them, "this is Haku. I found him on my way out of the village, he's been my apprentice for more than a few years now, so I thought it was about time you two meet." He looked back to his student, "Haku, take off your mask and say to my old friend, he's the one that helped us get money from that one job we did last year."

Haku looked over at Naruto curiously from behind his mask, he was curious about this boy. What about him made his master seem so happy today, Naruto turned to the fake hunter ninja with a kind smile, "hi, I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you," he held out his hand for Hakur to shake.

Haku took off his mask and shook Naruto's mask, "hello, nice to meet you, Naruto, I'm Haku." Haku turned to Kurama to shake his hand as well, but instead was pulled into a sudden hug that caught him off guard by Kurama, "Uhm."

Kurama backed away from him after a second and smirked, "sorry, I was just checking something. You have a nice...aura, yeah. You seem like you would be nice, so I hugged you, that okay? You probably should have asked you first beforehand, right?"

Kurama smiled at the androgynous boy brightly which made his amber eyes seem to sparkle, "i-i-it's okay, I-I d-don't mind," he stuttered. His face was slightly pink as he looked into Kurama's eyes. Naruto held back a chuckle at the two's interaction.

"Really, that's great!" Kurama hugged Haku tightly again, "I have a feeling that we're gonna get along nicely, Haku." He whispered into Haku's ear so the other's couldn't hear, "You remind me of someone else that acts kinda like you back home, I wish you two could meet so we can have some fun!" Kurama pulled back a little from Haku and placed a light peck on his cheek before finally stepping away from him, "let's get along from here on, okay, Haku," he stated happily.

Haku's face was a little red at this point as he looked down at the mask in his hands, "o-o-okay..."

Zabuza raised a nonexistent eyebrow at his student's behavior, he looked back to Naruto, "is he normally like that?" He asked glancing at the redhead curious to know what he said to make his student seem so flustered.

"Mostly, there's nothing I can do about it though, I shish could, "Naruto sighed. He turned to the last person with him, "also, this is Dante, my walk summons."

Dante bowed his head politely at Zabuza, **"how do you do."**

Zabuza nodded to the wolf before turning serious as he lo turned his attention back to the blond, "listen Naruto, if you're here with your team, then I'm fairly sure you know what I'm doing here. Right?" The older ninja scratched the side of his head, "look, I don't want to go up against you like this, so I think it would be best if we make a deal."

"My thoughts exactly, Zabuza," Naruto stated cheerfully, "I'm so happy you see it my way. "So here's what's gonna happen, you're going to switch to my side and give me everything you know about Gato so we can take him down together. When we're done here, I'll fulfill one of the favors I owe you, how 'bout it, Mr. MooMoo?" 

"First odd, don't call me that," Zabuza started," second, "that wasn't what I was going to suggest. I was thinking more along the lines of giving me the old man and I let the rest of your team go free," he stated matter of factly.

Naruto lost his smile as he turned a subzero glare onto the older ninja. His killing intent leaked out a bit making the air around them feel intense, "eh? Come again, I don't think I heard you right, what was that?"

One look of Naruto's face made Zabuza start to rethink his idea. He was sure that the rumors he heard about Naruto's ANBU alias weren't a lie, he wanted to test it out, but not under these circumstances. It was probably best to be on the blond's side, rather than be against him. "You know what, on second thought, let's go with your idea, it would be troubling if we started a fight here for some dumb shit, don't you think?" He tried, he could feel all the intensity of Naruto's killing intent aimed at him, and a little to Haku, but mostly him as he continued to glare at him. 

Naruto's smile returned to him as his killing intense disappeared from the area completely. "Good thinking, Zabuza, I thought I was really gonna have to get violent so early in the morning. It's a good thing you changed your mind, ne?" He chuckled as he placed his hands in his pockets, "tell you what since I'm in such a good mood, how about if you help me take down Gato, I'll pay the both of you and allow you to cash in on one of your favors. What do you say, good deal right?"

Zabuza put down the arm holding his sword with a chuckle, _"this kid is kinda crazy, but then again, he's a good ally to have and he pays well."_ He nodded, "sure, we'll help you out, you can do the usual with the money, it doesn't matter as long as it gets to me in full." He held out his hand for the blond, "deal?"

Naruto shook Zabuza's hand, "deal." He sensed his Kakashi and the other's chakra signature reach the mainland just then. "Let's continue this talk later, my team's here. We can meet up in the northwest part of the forest near the village later to talk later," he let go of the man's hand and turned to Kurama. "Let's move before those three get suspicious."

Kurama nodded and got back onto Dante's back, he turned and winked at Haku when he was secured on the wolf's back. "I'll catch you around, Haku~" he sang as Dante rolled his eyes as they found their way back to the rest of the team and the client. 

"Haa, that guy," Naruto shook his head as he followed them. He gave a backward wave to their two allies, "see you later tonight."

* * *

**Tazuna's House**

Tazuna brought the team to his house after Naruto rejoined at the lake. They managed to make it all the way there without incident, it was a miracle after what happened the day before. However, Kakashi still found it suspect that no one came after them on their way to the village, he was sure that they would be getting an A ranked ninja to be coming after them after the Demon Brothers. Yet, that wasn't the case, even though he should be happy about that, he wasn't. He was unsure of what happened while Naruto was gone, but he had a feeling that he might have had something to do with it. Just like he had something to do with the Demon Brothers, they didn't see it, but the suspicion was there. After making it to Tazuna's house, Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, showed up to open up the door for them and invite them inside. Naruto knew right away that she had contracted the same illness from the polluted water, just like Tazuna. Now Naruto was even more curious about what Gato had really done to the water to cause this to happen. Just putting bad things in the water is not something that could have this great effect village-wide. Naruto could tell that there had to be something else. Sure the water was was probably the fastest way to infect a village, but there was something else at play here. When they passed through the village on their way to the bridge builder's home, Naruto and Kurama witnessed many people with different illnesses, not just the one that Tazuna seemed to be afflicted with. He needed to get to the bottom of this before this thing spread t past the village. If all this really was the work of this Gato person, then polluted water or no, he would be responsible for a nationwide outbreak if they didn't take care of the problem soon. What Naruto need was information on what all of this really was, he was pissed that so many people were sick while Kurama was around. He didn't know if there was anything contagious in the village so he didn't know if Kurama would get infected, let alone himself. He needed to find out before he did anything else, so he summoned clones to go collect samples on the polluted water and other places that might be contaminated. While that was happening, Tazuna introduced him to his daughter and grandson, who didn't seem to be infected by anything on the surface. "Guy's, this is my daughter, Tsunami, and grandson, Inari," Tazuna said as he showed the ninjas inside.

The woman named Tsunami looked sickly pale, her movements looked slow and sluggish as she walked over to the kitchen table. She looked weak as she took a seat, "hello, I'm sorry for my appearance, I must look terrible," she coughed a bit into a handkerchief she had with her. "I've been feeling under the weather lately, so that's why I look at this, but please, make yourselves feel at home. I would like you all for taking my father's request to come all the way her, it really means a lot," she brightly smiled the best she could, but it didn't seem to work the way she wanted as she started coughing violently.

Kurama tugged on Naruto's arm a little and he walked over to the woman. "Uhm, would you mind if I listened to your cough?" He asked Tsunami as he put his bag down, her son, Inari was clinging to her side as if he was a bodyguard and glared up at Naruto.

"What can you do for her, you're just a kid too!" Inari started blatantly, Naruto could imagine the tears that he was holding back from falling right now. It already looked like his eyes were still a little wet, so he must have been crying a little before they arrived.

Naruto nodded, "yep, I'm just a kid, just like you." He bent down next to Inari and smiled, "but that doesn't mean I won't try to help," he smiled at the little boy and patted his head. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, kid, watch," Naruto focused chakra into his hands and placed it on Tsunami's shoulder as she began to cough again. Just like before, it was a deep, wet cough, the blond frowned, he couldn't find the source of the illness coming from inside her body, although he thought that there would be. With Tazuna, it looked like his cells were dying off faster than they could be replaced, and his organs had started to fail. With Tsunami, it was different, there was a lot of damage, but it didn't look like anyone's cause was the case, her body just seemed to be failing her. Particularly her lungs to be exact, but that wasn't the cause, it was puzzling Naruto more and more by the second. He wanted to check out everyone's case in the village to see if he could find a common factor. In a village as small as this, there had to be something they had in common, though their symptoms seemed so different. Naruto took out a piece of parchment paper and made a seal that would help ease some of the pain and tiredness Tsunami was feeling, just like he did for Tazuna. He handed it to Tsunami, "put this over your chest and it should help with any pain you're feeling."

That's when Sakura decided to open her big mouth, "and what's a piece of paper gonna do for her?"

"It's going to help with the pain, didn't you hear me?" Naruto turned back to the pink loudmouth, "or are your ears defective from yelling all these years."

"Shut up! My ears are just fine!" Sakura yelled.

"Maa maa, Sakura, you're being too loud. We're being invited into someone's home, try to keep your voice down to a dull rawr please," Kakashi sighed. He looked back at Naruto, "who taught you about seals?" Since he didn't hear anything about either Minato or Kurshina teaching Naruto about seals yet, only Iko had started learning how to do sealing recently.

"That's for me to know, Kakashi," Naruto stated as he picked up his bag and walked into the living room. He placed it down and started taking out some scrolls, one of which was a sealing scroll with testing equipment. He turned to Tazuna as he made his way over to the door, "I'm going to be heading out for a bit, I'll be back before dinner, but my clones will be bringing some things back before me. If you see them, please tell them to head to the back of the house and leave everything there."

Tazuna nodded, "uh, sure thing kid, I'll tell them." He said and Naruto put back on his shoes and opened the door, "w-wait, I should warn you to be careful." 

Naruto paused, he looked back at Tazuna, "why?"

"Because Gato's men are gonna be walking around all day today, that's why!" Inari answered for his grandfather.

"They are?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hn, I thought you said they only came out during the early morning and late at night," Sasuke stated after dropping his bag in the living room.

"Lately, they've been patrolling more frequently," Tsunami commented between coughing. She had placed the seal Naruto gave her over her chest and felt a lot better than before, although the cough remained, it wasn't as bad as before. "Just the other day after dad left, one of his men took a woman that was just walking home from the store, no one's seen her since."

"Hmm, noted, I'll be careful," Naruto said and walked out of the house. He climbed onto Dante, who had been waiting outside, and took off in a seemingly random direction into the forest.

Sakura looked up at her sensei, "sensei, aren't you gonna go after him? He could cause trouble for the other villagers if he goes."

Kakashi shook his head tiredly, "nah, I think he'll be fine if he's out of our hair for a while." 

* * *

**Later that night**

It was late in the night by the time Naruto came to the meeting spot and waited for Zabuza and Haku to show. He didn't need to wait long as they appeared before him a minute after he arrived. Naruto looked up at them, "hey, whatcha got for me?" Naruto asked sitting down in the glass.

Zabuza leaned against a tree a few feet across from him, while Haku stood nest to him. Zabuza gestured for Haku to speak, "we made it into his hideout after we left you. He's got his hands in a lot of things, and he's good at business since he owns his own import/export company. From what we know, he's been doing a lot of backdoor dealings and came to this village to expand his business, however, that's not all he's doing to this village. A few weeks after coming here, he manages to extort the Lord of this land, so the Lord can't pay for help even if he wanted to. The taxes started rising from there, after that, the local freshwater reserves of the village were polluted with something that we can't identify, as well as the soil that the villagers gown their crops in. This has been going on for at least over two years now and it only seems to be getting worse. The villagers have gotten sick from the pollution and bad soil makes it hard for them to grow decent crops since then. It doesn't seem like Gato stopped there, as he kidnapped many people from the village, holding them as a hostage when some villagers can't pay the high tax rates. As for the people that were kidnapped, they are currently being held inside a locked building on the next island near Gato's home office. Looks like he's keeping a close watch over them, he has a guard that watches them twenty-four hours of the day and tortures them almost every day. He also has a total of thirty to forty thugs working as his security detail. That is all I was able to gather on him thus far," Haku ended the report with that.

Naruto nodded, "yeah, okay..." Naruto thought for a moment. "There's little I can do for the villagers. So, here's what I want you do do, Zabuza," the said ninja looked up at the kid. "Since Gato knows that, or probably realized by now, that Tazuna has already brought back help from a ninja village somehow. He's eager to kill over this bridge thing since it's going to loosen his grip over the village and eventually, they will be free of him, so he wants to stop that. What I want the two of you is to pretend that you ran in with said ninjas, don't go overboard, but pretend to be injured for about a week, that's it. Don't let on that you'll get better in anything less than a week, that's all the time I'm gonna need to set everything up. Once the week is over, Gato's gonna get a little visit from me and my friends, that means you two, Dante, and Kurama. We'll storm his base and take him for all he's worth, and then some, during the week, I want you guys to slowly weaken his defenses. Make it easier to corner him. If he thinks he's gonna get away with potentially spreading a deadly disease in this village that's noncurable, then we're going to make sure that he knows what it feels like to die a painful and slow death."

Zabuza smirked under his bandages, " "I like the way you think, Naruto, so what are you thinking?" 

Naruto smirked as well, "thank you, I was hoping to get a pice of what Gato's been selling. I want to know all his bad habits and crush him. I'll take down all of his businesses, make them turn on him. By the time I'm done with him, he won't have a penny to his name."

Zabuza chuckled, "you're a little sadistic, kid, I like it. But during this week of me being 'injured', what will you have me do in the meantime? I mean, I know Haku can do all the information work and sneak around for me, so I don't really have to lift a finger. But I'll get bored, you can't just have me rotting away in a bed while I pretend to be ill." 

Naruto stood up from his sport, "that's right, I know I can rely on you for this job, so I'll give you this." He took a scroll out of his pocket, Zabuza opened it, read it, then looked at Naruto with a curious look. "That's a little something that I came up with, I want you to put it in Gato's water. Whatever he's got going on in the village water, it's nothing to sniff at, people are getting sick over it, and some have already died. From what I've figured out, nothing in the village water is contagious or anything, but it is deadly. I have no idea where Gato got this virus from that he's it's in the water and soil, I was able to make an antidote for it and plan to mass-produce it for the villagers by tomorrow evening. Tomorrow night at the latest, but it won't do much for those who are too far gone. There are two types of viruses in the soil, and one in the water that's not so potent, but put the three of them together and they don't mix well. They appear in different forms in some villagers, for some, it's fast-acting and kills within a year, but others it takes longer, those are the people that my antidote will help the most, sadly to say."

"Is there nothing we can do for the others that have a faster progression of three mixed viruses?" Haku asked worriedly, Naruto could tell that he's a good kid with a big heart.

"There is, but for the ones who've already at the final stage, like Tazuna, there's nothing. But others who are still in the earlier stages, there might just be another antidote that I can come up with, but I'll need a little more time to test it out. Three days maybe, hmm..." he thought for a moment with his eyes closed, he opened then with a nodded of his head, "yeah, give me four days. Within those four days, you guys do what I asked. Zabuza, you get that into Gato's drinks, food, anything that Gato puts near him, I want that on it, got it? But you have to make sure that you don't touch it or let it get on your skin, it's very potent and will likely be painful if not mixed with anything, understand."

Zabuza nodded as he looked back at the scroll, it was a storage scroll with a small jar big enough to fit into his hand. The contents looked like ground up tea leaves or something similar, it looked like something ordinary that you would have in your kitchen so it didn't stick out too much. "Sure thing, how long will a person last if they have a small does of this?"

"One cup guarantees a slow deterioration of the body of one year." Naruto's smirks got wider, "that's why I want it on everything and in everything Gato gets into. It'll be a fun show to witness by the end of the week."

"Hm, what about that sensei of yours?" Zabuza glanced behind him without turning his head, "he's okay with you doing this type of thing on your own?"

Naruto knew what Zabuza was getting at, "tch, that loser? Ha, don't make me laugh, he doesn't even know the first thing about me, he doesn't even know why I came out here in the first place." Naruto already knew that he had been followed to the area by Kakashi, even though Kakashi used to be an ANBU, he could still smell his chakra, one of the perks of having the Kyuubi's soul sealed inside of you since the day you were born. He sighed, "when we're done here, let's not meet again until the end of the week. I don't want any misunderstandings or headaches to occur because I have to be updated every single step of the way." The blond stretched his arms out, "tomorrow, Kurama and I'll have the polluted water situation looked at and taken care of, the soils gonna be tricky but we'll take care of that too, eventually. While you guys work on your thing, we'll do our own as well, make sure not to get caught, Mr. Moo Moo, I'd hate to bail you out of something silly like this," he stated as he started walking away from the two.

Zabuza chuckled, "don't make me laugh, do you even know who you're talking to, you fucking brat?"

"Just making sure you know, ja," Naruto waved bye at them and left.

Zabuza sighed as he put the jar back in the scroll and put it away, "that brat," he sighed. "Haku, come," the boy nodded and they left the area.

Once the area was clear, Kakashi stepped out from the shadows with a serious look on his face. He didn't say anything as he looked off in the direction Zabuza and his accomplice went off in, he turned to the direction Naruto went off in and frowned. "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza...just what are you hiding? I'll find out soon enough."

* * *

**Two days later**

After Naruto was finished talking to Zabuza that night, he sent a clone back inside the house to cover for him while he worked on the antidote. He figured that he had about two days before the team Kakashi sent for made it to the village. He didn't know what team would come so he didn't hold out too much hope of seeing either, team eight, Shikamaru, or Chouji on the day the team was meant to arrive. There could be another genin team he's never met yet showing up, who knows, but he didn't have time to think about that now. He set to work on making the medicine while giving his clone instructions to gather ingredients that he would need. Naruto wasn't a science wiz like a certain scientist he's meet during his ANBU missions, but he knows a thing or two about making medicine. And poisons. He worked well into the night and made the antidote by late evening the next day, he used Dante and his clones to go into town that evening to distribute it. He felt that Kakashi was giving a close eye to his actions, but he could care less. Naruto's antidote was given to every villager, no matter who it was, he was able to give half the village the antidote the first day before he ran out. He had to make more that night and continued on with the other half the next day, some of the villagers were skeptical of the antidote when he gave it, but they took it anyway since none of them had anything else to lose. After that, Naruto started making a vaccine to prevent them from getting sick from the same poisoned soil that they were forced to grow their crops in all this time. He had no idea what kinds of effects this would have on them in the long run, but he made sure to get everyone the help they needed. If anything bad happened after he saved them with his drug, then he would take full responsibility. For all he knew, he would be making them worse instead of making them better, so all he could do was hope that things worked out for them in the future. He was planning to check up on the village shortly after this mission was over to make sure that he didn't somehow kill off an entire village while trying to save it. 

Two days have passed since Naruto's meeting with Zabuza, and the night just before the genin team arrived to back them up. Naruto was curious to see who it was, however, worried he was about who was coming, he was going to try his best to get them to focus on the mission and try not to fight. Most of the people in the village hated his guts anyway, so having someone show up that wouldn't be judging him off of rumors would surely be the hardest thing to do. Yet, that was the least of his worries. Two days after Naruto had given out the first batch of his antidote to the first half of the villagers showed no results, neither did the second half, but it had only been two days since. He had a whole two weeks to see the progress and would act accordingly if anything were to change in their respective conditions. As for Tazuna and Tsunami, he also gave them the antidote while he gave all three family members their vaccine to ensure nothing happened. So far, Inari still wasn't showing any signs of being infected, but he was still young, so it could be a possible delay in the time of infection for kids, there was no real way of him knowing. During the two days, Naruto had most of his clones keep an eye on the thugs working for Gato to stop them from causing the villagers any trouble, he also stopped the kidnappings of the hostages. He was a thousand percent sure that Gato was going to be visiting the town to find out why he wasn't getting any more soon. With all that said and done, it was finally the day that the team would be arriving. Turns out that the possibility of seeing one of his mates, other than Kurama, on the mission was in his favor when team ten showed up. By that point, Naruto had barely slept in those two long days and had just replaced his clone after the final batch of antidotes had been made and went out for distribution with his other clones. Naruto was so happy to see Shikamaru and Chouji walking up to Tazuna's house that he couldn't help his tiredness and fell into Shikamaru's arms as soon as he saw him.

Kurama came out of the house when he heard the commotion, as did everyone else, they had just sat down to have breakfast when they heard sudden yelling outside. Kurama, Kakashi, Sakura, Sakura, Tsunami, Inari, and Tazuna walked out of the house to see what was happening when they saw Shikamaru holding Naruto's limp body in his arms. Kurama walked over to Shikamaru, apparently, due to his heightened hormone levels, the Nara heir was on the verge of tears when Naruto fainted in his arms. Kurama sighed, "don't worry, Shika-chan, he's not dead, he's just overworked himself in the past two days without sleeping." The redhead shook his head at the passed out blond before turning to Chouji, "help me get this fool inside please."

"Sure thing," Chouji stated as Kurama helped pick up Naruto and put him on his back before making his way inside. 

Shikamaru got up from the floor and wiped his eyes, "you sure he's alright?" He asked sadly watching Naruto leave, Kurama scratched his head and sighed tiredly, he wasn't feeling so great these past three days for some reason. He's been worried about Naruto's health since he was exposing himself to the poison in the water and soil the most since they arrived, and he wouldn't even allow him to help. His main excuse was that the redhead was pregnant and he didn't want the baby to get affected by it.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Kurama stated leading Shikamaru and the rest of team ten inside.

Asuma was a little stunned by the way that Naruto came out seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly faint into Shikamaru's arms. What's more, he also couldn't believe that Shikamaru let out such a girly shriek when the blond boy fainted, if he hadn't known any better, or saw it for himself, he would have said that it was Ino instead. "Uh, what has he been doing to make him like that?" He asked as they entered the house.

"Oh, uh, he's been working on something new lately, so he's been out training all night," Kurama smoothly covered.

"Ugh, I guess that would explain why he was so damn sweaty," Ino made a disgusted face. Then she saw Sasuke and started fawning over him while Sakura glared at her, then the two girls began their usual routine of calling each other names.

"Right," Shikamaru knew that Naruto wouldn't carelessly train like that all night when he was on a mission. A little training when he had some free time, sure, but never to the point of him fainting. He looked to Kurama, the fair-skinned redhead looked as dazzling as ever, he felt a little jealous, but when he looked closer, he noticed that he looked a little paler than usual. He frowned and suddenly hugged Kurama's arm, "come out with me for a bit, I wanna talk to you," he pulled Kurama out of the house before he could reply. Kurama didn't mind though, he let the other boy pull him from the house and off to the side where they would not be seen easily.

Kurama gave a sly smile, "what's up, Nara, miss me that much? Wanna kiss me? Or do you want something more?" He flurted, Shikamaru couldn't help the blush that came across his face and he captured the redhead's lips in a deep kiss for a minute before pulling away.

"Now tell me what's really been going on," Shikamaru demanded. "I know Naruto doesn't do useless work that makes him tired out like that while he's on a mission, so what's up?"

Kurama sighed shrugging his shoulders, "ya caught me." He shook his head, "no, he wouldn't so I'll tell you," and he did. He told him how the water and soil had been polluted and how the villagers got sick from it, he told him how Naruto spent the last two days making antidotes and vaccines for the whole village. And how he used a clone to cover for his absence while he worked, "but I think that Kakashi's caught onto him because I saw him leave after Naruto the first night."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked folding his arms, he was curious about the state of the village, he did see a lot of people who looked sick while they were coming to the house. 

"On our way to the village, we met an old friend that is gonna help us out on this mission. I guess Kakashi saw who he met that night and decided to keep watch on him ever since, but I can't say I blame the idiot for doing so. Naruto has many secrets," Kurama admitted, "ever since I was released from the seal, Naruto has been keeping one or two secrets from me every now and then," he smirked then. "But I always find out what he's hiding in the end, so it doesn't really matter."

"Hmm, I see, so that's what's going on..." Shikamaru was silent for a moment before looking down at his feet. A small blush on his face, "would you mind if w-we take a bath later? T-together?"

Kurama giggled as he linked arms with him, "sure thing, babe. Oh! That reminds me!" They started walking back towards the front door, "I met this really cute kid on the way here, I wanna have you meet him. He's a real beauty, I'll introduce the two of you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah? He's really cute?" Shikamaru asked blushing, _"if Kurama was calling someone cute, then that must mean that they're really beautiful then."_

"Yep, super cute!" Kurama said noticing the look on Shikamaru's face, he whispered in his ear, "and I wanna have some fun with you both." Shikamaru's face turned as red as the hoody he was wearing, it was one of the hoodies he took from Naruto's hoodies with big words on it. The words on the hoody read 'Foxy' in the style of dripping letters, he wore that with black three-quarter pants and black ninja sandals. 

The two arrived back just in time to hear Inari ask, "why did your village only send two big ninjas and a bunch of kids to protect my grandpa?" He asked Asuma, not Kakashi because he didn't like the one-eyed man's attitude. During the first night, at dinner, Inari insinuated that the people in Konoha all lived happy lives and didn't know about sacrifice, so Kurama took him aside with Naruto's clone and explained a few things that changed the boy's point of view.

She asked, the boys were quiet for a few moments and Tsunami thought that she said something wrong, "not that I'm not happy that we were able to actually get help with our troubles. It's just that... well, you four seem a little young to be ninja's, plus... you brought alone a toddler and two babies, as well as some dogs, is this stander procedure for all the hidden villages?"

"Well they're not just some ordinary kids, kiddo, these are genin." Asuma started, he felt like he was explaining things out to his nephew, "you seem in every ninja village, we have a ranking system. To become a ninja, you start out at the academy and train every day to pass the final exam. Then you're placed on a team with two other genins from your class and a jonin sensei until you become a chunin. After chunin is jonin, but you have to be the strongest of the strong to reach chunin and jonin level or else you won't live long when you take missions outside the village. So for missions like these, we would usually have a team of chunin and a jonin accompany your grandpa, but I guess the ranking or the mission got messed up, so another genin team was sent out instead." He explained to Inari, just like when he first explained the ninja system to his nephew, Inari also had stars in his eyes, he smiled, proud of his explanation.

"So that means that Naruto-nii and Kura-nee are really strong ninjas, mister?" Inari asked curiously after the explanation Kurama gave him that night, Inari had started asking Kurama nonstop questions about what it was like to be ninjas. Kurama may or may not have let it slip about a young ninja around Naruto's age becoming a secret ANBU captain, although he didn't give out names, Inari found it super cool.

Asuma was a little torn on how to answer, he wanted to say yes about Kurama, but he didn't know about Naruto. "Uh, you can just ask them yourselves," he stated, picking the easy way out, he didn't want to crush this kid's hopes, he wasn't that kind of guy. Kakashi would have already done so if it was him being asked, but the copy ninja was already nosed deep in his porn book, looking like he had no care in the world.

"What about Dante?" Inari asked excitedly, "does every ninja in your village have a supper cool summoning animal like him? Or is it just one summons for each team?"

This is where Asuma was a little confused, "um, no, there aren't really all that many summoning contracts in our village, so I can't say that that's the case." He was curious about where this kid got the idea from, "did someone tell you that?"

Inari shook his head, "no, I saw Naruto's wolf Dante and got curious. So how do you guys get big animals like that to listen to you, and do all of them talk?"

Asuma was really confused now, "huh? Dante, who's that? I don't know."

"He's Naruto's summons," Kakashi looked up from his book, "from the Wolf Contract that everyone seemed to think was a myth before."

Asuma looked at Kakashi surprised, "what? For real, how'd he get a thing like that?" 

"Donno, and he's not telling," Kakashi sighed as he got up from the table as Tazuna came down the stairs with his bag. It was time to head to the bridge anyway, "we'll talk about it later. Your team can stay here and rest for a while, I can take Sakura, Sasuke, and Kurama to the bridge with us today. You guys can do it tomorrow."

Asuma nodded, "okay, sounds good," he waved to the one-eyed ninja as his team got ready to leave. As Kakashi walked out the door, Asuma turned to his own team, "I'm going to patrol the town a little later, during that time, I want you guys to stay here and watch the house."

"Okay," Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji replied as they put down their packs. Shikamaru went over to sit next to Naruto and Chouji, while Ino talked to Inari about how cool Sasuke was, but the little boy didn't seem very interested in talking about the Uchiha. 

Asuma turned to Tsunami, seeing how weak she looked, "are you alright miss?" He thought that she looked a bit sickly, he took a step closer to her before she dropped a plate, he got caught it just as it fell out of her hand. "Would you like to sit down for a bit, we can take care of any housework you need to be done if you're not able. You don't have to put yourself out for us, you know."

Tsunami gave him a weak smile, "thank you, that would be great." Tsunami's previous symptoms had eased quite a bit, however, her tiredness and weakened strength was not something that seemed to be going away. She felt like she was only just getting by with each passing day, but she didn't want to give up hope yet, she wanted to see her father's bridge get built first. She wanted to see her son grow up too, even though she doubted she would be around for much longer, if she could just see the bridge through, she would be happy. She let Asuma led her to a chair and sat down, "thank you, really. I don't know what's been going on with me lately after Naruto gave me that seal yesterday, I thought I was feeling better, but I guess I'm still only getting worse," some tears welled up in her eyes and she clenched her hands. Clearing her throat, she turned to Asuma, "could you do me one favor, please?"

Asuma could feel her weak grip on his arm, her soft voice made him wonder about her ailment, "yes, I'll do the best I can. What do you need?"

"If I die while my father is building the bridge, could you please take my son back to your village?" Tsunami asked just before her lungs decided to give her trouble and she started coughing, she could feel a small bit of blood in her mouth, but she didn't let it out, "please?"

Asuma felt shocked to the point that he couldn't speak, "that...uhm...yes, we'll take him. I promise," Tsunami gave him a weak smile and got up from the chair with Asuma's help. "You should rest, don't push yourself."

"No, it's quite alright, I'm just going up to my room to rest for a bit." Tsunami felt short of breath as she was on her feet again, "though...I might....need you...help, again," she said between pants. She felt light-headed and leaned on Asuma for support, she didn't want to burden him so much, but she didn't have enough strength right now to do much else. She felt as if she would fall at any moment. _"Just make it until the bridge is built, Tsunami, you can do it, then your son won't have to worry about being bullied by that tyrant all his life,"_ she thought as she slowly slipped into unconsiousness.

"Miss?" Asuma looked down at the weakly standing woman, he realized that she was asleep now because she wasn't answering him. He picked her up bridal style and started heading towards the second floor, he sighed as he made it up the stairs, "looks like there's a lot more than we thought was happening in this village. I would like to know what's been going on for myself, I wonder what went down here."

Inari watched his mom be carried up the stairs by the newly arrived jonin, he looked down at his lap, not knowing what to do. He was sitting next to Naruto with Shikamaru and Chouji, while Naruto laid on the bed, Ino finally decided to leave him alone about Sasuke after she noticed he wasn't interested in talking to her. "What's going to happen to my mom if you guys leave?" He asked softly with a pout, he looked over at Naruto's sleeping form, "can he fix her even though she's been sick like that for a while?"

Shikamaru looked over at Chouji before they both turned back to Inari, "we don't really know, we just got here. But..." Chouji started.

"But if I know Naruto, he'll do the best he can," Shikamaru finished. That seemed to comfort the boy and he smiled a little, he turned around to look out the window wondering what he should do to help out his mom. He knew she felt weak from whatever it was that Gato was doing to the village, so he wanted to help her out as much as he could. Shikamaru and Chouji shared another look, both of them weren't sure if Naruto could really do much for the village or not. They just wanted to give the kid some hope, but they really did hope that there was something that Naruto could do.

**Next chapter**

"Stand here, you'll get in the way if you go any closer," Shikamaru instructed.

"W-what happened to her? Is she going to be okay?" Inari asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine kit, I'll make sure of it," Naruto said with Kurama nodded before getting to work.

**To be continued...**


	14. Wave 3

It has been five days since team seven arrived in Wave, and three days since team ten came to help them as per protocol. Naruto made antidots for everyone in the village to fight against the unknown illness caused by pollution in the soil and drinking water. Naruto made sure to look into the illness more and the result of the vaccines he administered to the villagers. Within the week, some of the villagers were starting to show signs of getting better, while it was unknown if they would make a full recovery or not. He was happy that the people of Wave were getting better. During the week that team seven had arrived in the village, Kakashi decided to actually teach them something for once. So far, he had only taught them about teamwork and formation, because of this Naruto constantly wondering, out loud, if Kakashi was actually competent enough to be an actual sensei. Kurama was mostly upset that this man didn't seem to be doing his job right, or at least in his opinion. Kakashi, after two months of being team leader, finally decided to teach his team about tree climbing, the chakra exercise that Naruto learned from Kurama at the age of five. Upset by this, Naruto and Kurama showed Kakashi that they already knew how to do the exercise perfectly and left the team to play as ninjas in the forest alone.

As for the bridge, the construction was slow going, as Naruto had expected from civilians. So, on the third day of being there, he sent three blood clones to the bridge to help the construction workers. The blood clones made a bunch of clones to replace all the workers they lost because of Gato's threats, the illness Gato put in the water and soil, and also made enough to make the work go a bit faster. The other clones Naruto had patrolled the village also looked after the villagers, checking everyone that took the vaccine, making sure that they weren't getting worse, and collecting data overall. Tazuna's body was still deteriorating, but it was much slower than now, before, he would have to miss work because he was in so much pain, which caused the other workers to get discouraged and not work well without him. Now, Tazuna had yet to miss a day of work due to Naruto's pain killer seals. Naruto distributed those seals out to other workers that were working on the bridge, with this, they were able to work more diligently on the construction project. Kakashi and Asuma didn't bother Naruto too much about his efforts, so Naruto didn't get in their faces about getting in his way, it was a peaceful agreement between the three. Just when they thought everything was going fine, Tsunami fainted on the fourth day of team seven's arrival and had yet to wake up. This made Naruto worry because she wasn't the only one who had done this, other people in the village had started fainting and had yet to wake up. Naruto was at a loss, what was even going on here? He checked his data over again, trying to find the answers there before retreating back to the shed he made the antidot and vaccines in to see if he could figure things out there. Naruto was a little angry, why wasn't his methods working? He didn't know, he couldn't figure it out on his own. It was like there was a wall blocking him from the answers he sought. But Naruto wasn't giving up. "Damnit!" Naruto yelled as he threw everything off the table, "why isn't anything working? I've tried herbs, and I've done seals, what am I missing? There's gotta be something missing, but what..." Naruto pacing the makeshift shed that Tazuna allowed him to use in the back of the house. He wanted to find a way to help and he wanted to find it now!

Kurama, Shikamaru, and Chouji came into the shed to see if they could get Naruto to come and have dinner with them this time. For the past three days, Naruto had been held up in this shed, it was about time for him to come out of it. Naruto paced the length of the room, deep in thought and frustrated, he didn't even notice when Shikamaru, Kurama, and Chouji came into the room. Chouji walked into the room first with the other two behind him. "Naruto," Chouji started, "are you going to not eat with us again?"

Naruto continued to pace the room, seemingly not listening to him. Chouji looked back at Shikamaru and Kurama, the redhead frowned at the blond, "Naruto, please...have dinner with us. You haven't eaten anything in solid in almost two days." 

Naruto didn't seem to hear him, "Naruto, you shouldn't be doing this to yourself. You'll make yourself sick!" Shikamaru tried, he was worried about Naruto they all were. Ever since Tsunami's condition started to get worse two and a half days ago, Naruto had been working himself into the ground trying to find a way to help her. He locked himself in the shed that Tazuna allowed him to use to make the antidots and vaccines, he had yet to spend much time with anyone after that. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kurama were concerned about their friend's well being, but Naruto seemed too determined to just stop what he was doing just because they asked. He was sad that he wasn't able to hang out with Naruto like he wanted to after he heard that his team was going to be on the same mission as Naruto and Kurama.

Chouji saw the sad look on his best friend's face, he didn't like it when the people he cared about was hurting. Chouji turned to Naruto and stepped in front of him on his way back to the other side of the room. He captured the blond's face with both hands and killed him gull on the lips, forcing him to stop what he was doing. Naruto stopped what he was doing when Chouji kissed him, for a moment he forgot about what he was doing and leaned into the kiss a little for a second before pulling back to get some air. "Oh, hey Chouji, when did you get here?" Naruto asked dumbfounded.

Chouji frowned at him, "that's not the question you should be asking. Did you even notice that Kurama and Shikamaru are here too?" He asked sternly as he kept the blond in place, Naruto looked behind him to see that he was right, Kurama and Shikamaru were both standing behind him sad looks on their faces. Shikamaru looked like he was much more depressed than anyone else in the room, Naruto didn't like that look on his mates' faces. Chouji brought his attention back to him, "listen Naruto, I don't know much about all this as you. Medicine is not my strong point, neither is poison, but I do know a little about the body. I could help you," he offered a small smile to the blond hoping that he would accept his help.

"Y...you do, ah, wait, what am I saying?" Naruto asked with a sigh feeling foolish for what he just said, "you're an Akamichi, of course. You would know bout the human body since yous can expand to great size, so it's understandable."

"Yeah, it is," Chouji smiled, "and Shikamaru knows about different herbs and their effects, he could help you make something to help the situation. What I'm trying to say is that we want to help, so don't just push us off to the side again, okay?"

Naruto nodded, a small smile tugging on his face, how could he forget that he wasn't alone anymore? "yeah, I hear you." Chouji let Naruto's face go when he felt convinced. Naruto took in a deep breath as he looked around the room. It was messy with all the broken glass and blank seal papers he had knocked off the desk earlier in a fit of frustration. It didn't make sense for him to get so angry all of a sudden, but he felt like it was his responsibility to help Tsunami, Tazuna, and the other villagers of Wave. He couldn't tell anyone in so many words why that was, however, he knew one thing, he was stuck. He had never been so stuck on something in his life, he felt like he had all the answers, but not enough pieces to put the picture together, and that irritated him greatly. Great enough to the point that he was throwing things, apparently, he was upset at the mess, but he was also tired. He needed sleep and food, he had yet to really sleep or eat during all this time, it's been about two days since the last time he slept, and almost three since he last ate anything solid. He didn't know what the solution to this problem was, but he did know that pushing himself like this wasn't getting him to the answer any time soon. He needed some fresh air. He turned to Chouji and the other two, "okay, I think I need a short break from all of this before my head starts to go soft," he chuckled.

Kurama smiled, "it's about time, you big idiot! Do you know how worrie3d you've made us since you decided to lock yourself away like this?" He placed a hand over his still smooth stomach, "we are pregnant after all, what if we got sick from all this worrying you caused us?"

Naruto walked over to Kurama and placed a hand over his, "yeah, I'm sorry about that. I'll do better from now on so you guys don't have to worry so much." He turned to Shikamaru, pulling him close and planted a kiss to his forehead, "I don't want you guys worrying anymore." He looked back at Chouji, "and I promise that any time you guys want to help, I'll see about letting you do it, okay?"

"Sounds like a deal to me!" Kurama cheered, "now let's go eat, I'm starving!" 

Naruto laughed, "sure, sure, let's get going. Chouji, lead the way," he said taking Chouji's hand, said boy nodded and they started walking out of the shed. Shikamaru and Kurama followed behind them on the wat back to the house, they entered and found the room to be silent. Naruto didn't bother talking to his teammates, they didn't have anything nice to say to him, and he could care less for their rudeness towards him. They didn't have a good reason to be like that other than for Kyuubi's chakra inside him. Naruto made his way over to the kitchen looked around, it was dinner time and Tsunami wasn't around to cook for them like when they first arrived, so they were taking turns cooking. It was his turn to cook tonight anyway, so it was a good thing that he came in when he did. Looking through the kitchen, Naruto couldn't find anything much to make food for everyone right now, so he thought of something else, he took out a scroll and unseal some seeds from it, Kurama saw what he was doing and walked over.

"What are you doing kit?" The redhead asked as he looked over his shoulder at the seeds, "are those..."

"Yeah, they are," Naruto smiled and turned to Kurama holding them out, "if you would be so kind, Kura-hime."

Kurama giggled at the blond the blond's nickname for him, "it would be my honor," he placed his hands over the seeds and channeled some chakra into them. Naruto also channeled some of his chakra into the seeds, Shikamaru and Chouji came over to see what was happening and was shocked. 

"No way! How are you guys able to do that?" Chouji asked in surprise.

"It's our chakra, I guess you could call it a special skill or something like that," Kurama stated as something started to appear between their hands, "quickly, get something to catch them. Use a basket, there'll be a lot," Shikamaru nodded and went to go find a basket. 

As Shikamaru was coming back with the basket, Asuma and Kakashi walked in, "what's going on? What are you guys doing over there?"

Just as he was coming over to inspect, Kakashi threw a kunai at Naruto's feet. Asuma turned back to him in surprise, was he out of his mind, or what was the question. Before Asuma could say anything, Kakashi answered, "he's using Kyuubi's chakra," this made the smoking chiminea's eyes widen as he turned serious as well, he turned back to Naruto. The blond boy didn't seem too bothered by the fact that the jonin had thrown a weapon at him in the least, he just looks down at it for a second and then ignored it.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino asked as she walked over to her fellow blond with Sasuke and billboard brow. The two jonin walked into the kitchen with the other genin, when everyone gathered around them, their eyes widened as they saw Naruto and Kurama standing over an overflowing basket of fruits and vegetables. 

"Where did all of this come from?" Sakura asked as she looked down at the fruits, ever since they got to wave, the only thing that Tazuna could afford to get them to eat was rice, fish, and some sad-looking veggies. Nothing as grand and healthy-looking as the basket Naruto had at his feet.

Naruto smirked, "we'll be having vegetable stew tonight, you guys can go wash up. It'll be done in an hour or so."

"I'll help," Shikamaru said, as he got the pots.

"Me too," Kurama said with Chouji nodding and the two went to help Shikamaru set things up.

"Great," Naruto picked up the basket of vegetables from the ground and was about to carry it over to the counter to start, but Kakashi held his shoulder, stopping him. Naruto hated being touched suddenly, and especially by people that he didn't like. He turned an ice-cold glare on Kakashi, "what do you think you're doing?"

"That's my line, where did those vegetables come from? Answer me now, or else."

"Or else what?" Naruto shrugged off the hand, "you're going to do what? What have I ever done to upset you so much that you had to be up in my ass all the time like this? You're really starting to piss me off, Kakashi, and if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your damn hands off me, got it." It wasn't a question, it was a command, he was actually holding himself back from hurting the jonin right here and now. He didn't want to make the atmosphere in the house worse by putting Kakashi into the ground by accident just because the jonin pissed him off like this.

Kakashi decided that enough was enough, he let out some of his killing intent at Naruto to put him in his place. "Where do you get off telling me, your sensei, what to do like that? Are you really that ignorant, or did you fall and hit your head some time ago? Which one is it, let me know now so maybe I can think about going easy on you."Naruto calmly put the basket down on the counter, everyone watched him as he silently stood there for a long moment. Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he disappeared, Kakashi didn't have the time needed to process this before he was knocked through the front door and ten feet away before being stopped by a tree. Everyone was shocked at what just happened since it all went by so fast, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, and Asuma looked outside the now wide-open door to see the path that Kakashi took before landing in a tree. They turned back to look at Naruto a second later, the blond was acting as if nothing had happened as he helped Shikamaru wash the vegetables, and Chouji and Kurama cut them up while the water was set to boil. 

"Wha-what just happened?" Ino asked still too shocked to believe her own eyes. 

The blond boy did say anything as he continued to wash vegetables at the sink. Asuma stared at the blond boy for a long time, his thoughts were sort of all over the place, but one thing was for sure if Naruto was really using Kyuubi's chakra like Kakashi said. Why didn't he feel it just now? Worried, Asuma walked up to Shikamaru and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Shikamaru, come on, let's go over here for a minute, there's something I wanna ask you," he asked softly to the Nara.

Shikamaru stopped what he was doing to look up at his sensei curiously. He had a feeling what he was going to be asked, but wanted to know if it was okay to answer those kinds of questions. He turned to Naruto, "go ahead, you can tell him a little. Just don't go into detail," Naruto stated as he continued with the vegetables.

Shikamaru nodded, "right," he turned back to his sensei, "let's go." 

Asuma felt a little uneasy about this, but he was curious so what could he really do? He wanted answers, so he needed to get them from the source, or someone close to it, "right." He nodded and walked with Shikamaru outside of the house, stepping onto the porch so they would have some privacy.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Naruto finished with the vegetables and helped Kurama and Chouji with the stew. He could feel someone glaring at him from behind, without turning around, he already knew who it was, "stop glaring at me, Sasuke or I will poke both your eyes out. Got it?"

"Hn, fight me, dobe," was the Uchiha's reply.

"I don't want to waste my time with you today, Uchiha. If you really want someone to play with, I'll summon Dante and you can run around with him for a while until dinner's ready." Naruto stated in a stern, yet board voice. 

"Ha, you just don't wanna fight Sasuke-kun because you know you'll lose!" Sakura stated boldly.

Ino, who seemed like the more logical of the three at the moment, put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sakura, let it go, don't get involved," stated the worried Yamanaka, she had felt some of Naruto's killing intent when he knocked Kakashi outside just now. It was frightening even though it was only a small amount, she felt that if Naruto really wanted to, he could have done something much worse to him there and then. To be able to knock a join sensei out of a house and have him smashed into a tree about ten feet from the said house...and to be only a genin when doing so... _"yeah, there's no denying it now. I can tell that Naruto's been hiding something for the past few years since joining the academy, on the first day alone, he knocked Sasuke in a tree just like he just did to Kakashi sensei. If he's this strong now, I can't imagine how strong he's gonna be in the future."_

But Sakura didn't listen to here, "back off, Ino-pig! Are you taking Naruto's side, for real?" The civilian looked deep into the pale blue eyes of the Yamanaka, her ex-best friend, and ex-crush. She hated how much she used to look up to the Yamanaka before joining the academy, so she wanted to make up for the lost time by taking the guy that she had set her heart on. She was sure that she was going to be able to win Sasuke's heart since she was so smart and all. She saw something in Ino's eyes that looked odd, but she ignored it, "hmph, whatever, stay out of the way if you're not going to cheer for the real winner here." She turned a lovey-dovey smile to the Uchiha, who had not been paying attention to the girl's conversation at all, "right, Sasuke-kun?"

"Why won't you fight me, dobe? You scared that I might actually win?" Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that," Naruto stated as he started putting the vegetables into the pot.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "hey!" He stepped forward to turn the blond around, "pay attention when an elite is talking to you!" He was about to grab Naruto's shoulder like Kakashi, but he suddenly felt pain in his arm, he opened his eyes, not realizing when he closed them and found that he was on the ground. Naruto was on his back pinning his arm to his back with unsettling ease that Sasuke didn't like, "what, what the hell! Why the fuck are you on top of me, dobe?! It should be the other way around!"

"Oh really? Says who, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice grained a bit of excitement to it, "you know, if you weren't such an annoyance, I would take you right now,"

"What!" Sasuke shouted angrily, while the two girls said it in shock.

"Yeah," Naruto continued as he twisted Sasuke's arm behind him more, "I can think of a lot of ways to tame you. I feel like putting a muzzle on that big fat mouth of yours would not be enough to shut you up, but a leash would allow me to pull you away from your arrogant ways. What do ya say, Sasuke? Should I put a muzzle on you, or do you prefer the leash?"

Kurama giggled, he didn't expect his former container to be so kinky, "I think a collar would look really cute on him, kit." He licked his lips, "maybe a pretty pink one with a bell and ribbon, don't you think so Chouji?"

Chouji shrugged his shoulder, "I don't know, I'm not really into that kind of thing. But I guess it would be if you guys tried it out," he stated as he stirred the pot.

"Oh, a pink one then?" Naruto asked with a smirk on his face as he looked at Kurama, the redhead nodded his head, he turned back to Sasuke with a wide grin on his face. "Alright, I'll have to make sure I go out and get one when we get back, or maybe I can make one special just for him." Naruto was kind of liking the way that Sasuke was glaring back at him, he reached down and grabbed a chunk of the Uchiha's hair in his hand and pulled the boy's head back. "Hey, Sasuke, you don't mind if I take you like this, do you? Your attitude really needs some work, but I think I can overlook it a little once you're all tied up. Having you not able to move like this under me is kinda doing it for me."

Sasuke grunted as his hair was being pulled from behind, "fuck off, dobe, you'll n-"

"What was that, Sasuke? You want to do it right here in front of everyone?" Naruto chuckled as he yanked harder at Sasuke's hair, making the Uchiha grunt in pain, "it's okay if that's what you really want. I don't mind at all, really, just let me make it clear, once I start, I won't be stopping. So I'll ask you this once, are you sure you want to keep pushing my buttons like this? It could hurt a lot if you don't start playing nice now," Sasuke tried to glare at the blond, but he couldn't in this position, "huh? What was that? Not talking?" He pulled a little harder on Sasuke's hair, Sasuke let out an angry groan as he tried to hide the pain he was feeling. Knowing that he couldn't even more properly to attack Naruto right now was making him so mad, but with his arm pinned like this, it would be easy for the blond to just break it, so Sasuke sucked up his pride this once.

"Fine! I'll behave, now get off me!" Sasuke shouted angrily, feeling pissed that he had to give in so easily like this.

"Oh? Through the whole mission," Naruto asked pulling his hair back a little bit more.

"Ark, yes, yes! Now get off!" Sasuke shouted.

"Hmm," Naruto thought for a second before smiling brightly, "okay then." He let go of his grip in Sasuke's hair, but a split second later, he smashed the boy's face into the wood floor, pressing down on it with a wicked look in his eye, "but...If you don't follow through, I'm going to fuck you up. Understand?" Sasuke didn't say anything so Naruto took that as the Uchiha submitting himself to him, he nodded his head, "good." He let go of Sasuke's arm and got off of him, "keep your word Sasuke, I won't be so nice next time."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled running towards him, but Ino didn't. Both girls were shocked again and again over Naruto's seemingly sudden change when actually, this was how Naruto had been acting towards them for the past two months now. Cold and uncaring, but it didn't seem to register in their brains until he kicked Kakashi ten feet away from the house and pinned Sasuke to the ground with the threat/promise of breaking it. Yes, Naruto's real colors have been on display for a while, but it's only now that they chose to see them. A few minutes after dinner was served and Tazuna was called down to eat, the awkward atmosphere still remained. Inari and Tazuna had been spending a lot of time by Tsunami's bedside on the second floor these few days hoping she would wake up soon, but there was no change. Now the two are walking into a tension-filled dinner with the ninjas meant to protect them.

"What happened here?" Tazuna asked as he sat down at the table, Kakashi had returned from his trip outside with a slight concussion. Sasuke was holding the sore arm that Naruto had pinned behind his back, he was sending glares at the blond but didn't say anything, he looked like a petulant child. Sakura was also sending the blond glares, but her's weren't as heated as Sasuke's. Asuma had walked back into the house with a new view of Naruto, although, his old views still remained, he now had a neutral outlook on the boy's situation. While it was bad and he did feel sorry for him, he still couldn't understand how he was so strong when no one in the village would take the time to train or just teach him anything. This was the part that Asuma didn't understand and tried to get a straight answer from Shikamaru, but the boy wouldn't tell him anything. Ino didn't have any reason to really glare at Naruto since she now felt that he no longer the same boy that she knew. Kurama was sitting next to Naruto with a dreamy look in his eyes as he ate his food, and Chouji was in the middle of filling in Shikamaru on what happened while he was outside.

"Nothing to worry about, Mr. Tazuna," he stated as he gave Tazuna and Inari their food, he went back to his seat with his own food. He glanced at Kurama's face, it was clear what the fox boy was thinking about and decided not to bother him, with everyone at the table, Naruto picked up his utensil, "let's eat before it gets cold."

"Right, let's eat," Tazuna said softly and started eating. Inari didn't pick up his spoon right away, probably not feeling hungry, Tazuna noticed and sighed. "Eat up, Inari, or else you'll get sick too, and then who's gonna protect the house while your mother's sleeping?" He smiled his grandson who looked at up at him sadly before taking up his spook and forcing down a few bites of the food until he didn't feel like he didn't have to force it down anymore. Tazuna smiled, they both were thankful for the help around the house, they always forget how Tsunami was the main one keeping the house in working order, and how they had to rely on the ninjas further for that as well. Tazuna felt bad about that but there wasn't much he could do. Naruto had done his best for him and his village, and so in return, he had to finish the bridge quickly so that Gato would leave the village alone.

* * *

**The following morning**

Gato came to the village. It was bound to happen, Naruto knew it would, but he didn't think it would take this long. Gato showed up at the bridge that day, right and early in the morning before Tasuna arrived. Gato ordered his thugs to kill all the workers that came to the bridge early that day, along with anyone else that showed up on time. By the time word had gotten to Tazuna, more than half the workforce he had under him had been killed while the other half had been greatly injured. "So, he's made his move, huh?" Naruto stated before getting up from his seat and heading to the door.

"Where are you going to go Naruto?" Kakashi asked, still a bit out of it since Naruto back kicked him into a tree just last. He couldn't sleep because of the confusion that happened, he also managed to break two ribs because of the kick, he could feel the unnatural way his side felt after he woke up from the landing. It was a little hard to ignore such a hit like that when it came from a genin and caused him so much damage in the end. He wanted to keep Naruto close, but he also didn't want to be anywhere near him because of the previous night.

Naruto glanced back at Kakashi, "I'm about to go request a friend. Hold down the fort while I'm gone, you can do at least that much, right, Kakashi?" He asked as he pulled on his shoes and walked out the door. He wasn't alone, Kurama followed after him along with Shikamaru and Chouji, neither sensei stopped them as they left, Ino looked up at her sensei curiously but he didn't let anything show on his face. 

Kakashi sighed, "whatever," and sat back down in his seat as he thought of what to do next.

With Naruto, the small group of four walked into the forest and stopped in a clearing. After a second, a person stepped out from behind the tree, he wore a black vest that hugged his muscles well. Loose-fitting striped pants, ninja sandals, and had bandages wrapped around the lower part of his face, while his headband was wone off to the side of his forehead. "Zabuza, it's time, are you ready?" Naruto asked sternly.

"Of course," Zabuza stated casually, he grabbed hold of his sword's handle, "just say the word."

Naruto looked around the clearing, "where's Haku?"

"I'm right here," Haku appeared in the clearing dressed in the same hunter ninja clothes and mask as the first time. He walked over to the group and smile at the blond, "everything's in position."

Shikamaru held Kurama's hand and pulled him in close while staring at Haku, "hey, is that the one?" He whispered, Haku noticed them and he smiled at the two as well, Shikamaru blushed a little when he saw his smile, _"he really is gorgeous."_

Kurama smirked, "yep, that's him, he's just as cute as you are," he whispered back.

"What nonsense are you two talking about so early in the morning?" Naruto asked them, it seemed that they had forgotten about his heightened earing. He turned to look back at the two boys who simply gave him a sheepish look seeing that they were found out. Naruto shook his head at them, "if you wanna fuck Haku that bad, just ask him already, he's right here."

"Huh? What's going on?" Zabuza asked walking closer to the genin with a confused expression, "what about my apprentice?" He glanced at the said boy only to find him already wearing his mask and looking down at the ground, Zabuza lifted an invisible eyebrow at that. "Haku? What's with the mask, you're not in front of an enemy right now, you can take that off already."

"R-r-right," Haku hesitantly took the mask off his face to reveal his blushing face, "s-sorry." He still looked down at the ground, unable to meet anyone's eyes due to his embarrassment. Zabuza looked over to Naruto to see if he knew what was going on with his student, but the blond shook his head, so he left it alone. "Anyway, before we head out, I wanted to ask you something, Naruto."

"Shoot," Naruto replied.

"That favor you owe us, I wanted to cash it in now, just in case something happened." Zabuza threw another quick glance at Haku before returning to Naruto, "you don't mind, do you?"

Naruto already got what Zabuza was trying to say, "no problem, consider it done. With all the help that you two have given me over the years, I would be happy to have you both stay close, so this favor is something I can grant. Just make sure you make it out alive, I'm not about to carry you when I have my own work to do, Momochi."

Zabuza chuckled, "you're a slick little brat with a sharp tongue, if I didn't know any better, I probably would have called you my son in another life."

Naruto shrugged, "I doubt it, but you probably would make a better father than mine." He turned away from the swordsman, "now let's head out."

* * *

**An hour later**

Disaster struck.

After Naruto met Zabuza and Haku in the forest, he sent Shikaamru and Kurama back home because he didn't want them fighting on the bridge with them. He was worried that they would get hurt because they were both pregnant, he didn't want to risk it. Instead, he asked them to protect the house because he thought that would be safer while Chouji came with him, Zabuza, and Hakur to the bridge to face Gato. He thought that this would be a good strategy and went with it, just in case, he had a few clones watch the house thinking it would put his worried to bed, however, after they reached the bridge and started taking out Gato's men, one of his clones alerted him that there was trouble at the house. Naruto got memories of some extra thugs under Gato's employment showed up at the house and started fighting Asuma and the others, two managed to sneak inside and faced off against the genin. What happened after that was unknown because his clone was dispelled from a surprise attack from behind. Angered by this news, Naruto let loose his full power and demolished the remaining twenty bandits by himself in a show of great brutality. The bridge was covered with blood, yet Gato was still left alive, he sighed him up and brought him to the center of the village tied up tightly in ropes to tight that it made moving about impossible. Naruto left Gato there with a pile of sharp and dangerous objects and told the villagers to have as much fun with the man as they wanted and left. Gato's blood-curling screams could be heard for miles around the village as the angry villagers took revenge on him for what he did to them for the past two years, but Naruto cared not. The only thing that he concerned himself with was getting back to the house as quickly as he could, Zabuza and Haku had finished off the bandits they were fighting long before Naruto tied up Gato and brought him back into two. They cringed under the pressures of Naruto's killing intent, just standing next to him was difficult to breathe, so they made sure to keep a little distance from the boy. The followed after the blond back to the house afterward and were surprised to see that Naruto made it back there quicker than them and finished off the rest of the bandits. There had to be about another twenty of them from what they could tell after they arrived. when Kakashi and Asuma saw them appear, they were shocked but still prepared to fight them, thinking that they were part of the bandit group trying to attack them, but Zabuza waved them off, "we're not here for you."

Kakashi didn't believe him and moved to attack him, but a little hunter ninja stepped in front of him. "We are not your enemy, we came to help, as per a request," he said in a stock voice.

It hit Kakashi then that these might be the friends that Naruto was talking about before. However, he still couldn't believe it. "Who are you? Why's a Hidden Mist Hunter Ninja with a ronin assassin like Zabuza?" Kakashi asked cautiously.

"That is of no concern to you, Hatake, I'm just fulfilling a job request from an old acquaintance of mine," Zabuza explained.

"Acquaintance?" Kakashi turned back to the house, "Naruto?" He asked himself softly, suddenly they heard a painfilled scream coming from the house, both jonin, hunter ninja, and ronin ran into the house to see what was happening. They were prepared to fight until they saw the two bandits laying on the floor in a bloody puddle, or maybe a lake was more of the right word since there was so much blood surrounding them. The ninjas looked around the room to see who had made the noise when they saw Inari crying over his mother's body. Kakashi located Sakura and Sasuke and walked over to them quickly, checking both of them for injuries, when he found none, he asked, "what happened?" Both Sakura and Sasuke had shocked looks on their faces, Sakura was shaking as she kept her eyes focused on the person in front of her. She pointed to them, Kakashi followed her finger and saw Naruto standing over the bloodied bodies of the two thugs, his hands were soaked in blood but he didn't seem phased by it. 

"H-he..." Kakashi turned back to his student as she stuttered, "h-he...he k-killed them both w-with his b-bare hands!" Sakura told them with a trembling voice as she fell on her but, her legs were shaking too much to stay standing.

Kakashi was shocked to hear this, "what?" 

"I-it's true," Ino said as she hid behind Chouji. "He came in here and killed both those guys without any weapons, it was terrifying..."

Naruto looked down at his bloodied hands, he sneered, "Kurama, turn on the water, I need to wash my hands, quickly." The redhead quickly walked over to the kitchen and turned on the faucet for Naruto as he walked over and started washing the blood off his hands. "Tell me what happened before I came, did either of you get hurt?"

"What kind of question is that to ask me?" Kurama rolled his eyes, "you know I could have taken care of those bastard without any problem. I could have taken care of them both with my eyes closed if you hadn't shown up."

Naruto glanced at him, "yeah, I guess you could have, but remember, you're pregnant. I don't want you getting reckless because you're in your own body now, that bodies not just yours anymore."

Kurama frowned, "fine, but we're both fine, Shikamaru too."

"That's good," Naruto looked over to the spot that Shikamaru was sitting by Inari and Tsunami. "What happened here?" 

"One of the thugs came in and ran up to Tsunami's run while everyone was distracted with his friend there." Kurama informed him, "he took her out of her bed and brought her down here intending to run off with her. But then you showed up and he panicked and..."

Naruto finished washing his hands and Kurama handed him a towel, "bring my medical scroll. Towels, herbs, and anything else that we're going to need."

Shikamaru saw Naruto coming over and tried to pull Inari away from his mother, which made the little boy cry even louder, "no! No! I wanna stay with mommy! No! I don't wanna leave her, don't make me go! I don't want you to go, mommy!" Inari screamed in anguish.

"Inari!" Naruto's voice cut through the boy's screams and he looked up at the blond with teary eyes. "Stand back, you'll get in the way if you go any closer," Shikamaru pulled the crying boy to the side so that Naruto could take a look at the woman. From the looks of things, Gato was planning to distract the ninjas at the bridge while his men came to the house and tried to take Tsunami hostage to get Tazuna to stop building the bridge. The thug that took Tsunami from her room didn't bother to take care of how he was handling her at all, the sickly woman was thrown over his shoulder when Naruto came in through the door. As soon as the thug saw him, he stabbed a knife into her side and tossed her onto the floor violently and was about to finish her off but Naruto ended his life before he could end hers. Now Tsunami was bleeding out, Shikamaru had tried to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't enough. Naruto quickly got to work but he knew he couldn't do anything for her, she had lost too much blood to be saved, he just wished he had gotten there sooner. Kurama came over with the needed materials, he too what the outcome would be, but they needed to at least try their best even though it might be pointless.

"W-what happened to her? Is she going to be okay?" Inari asked worriedly.

Naruto and Kurama looked at each other, not knowing what to say. "She'll be fine," the blond said, even though he didn't believe his own words, he wanted them to be true. Everyone else in the room watched as Naruto and Kurama worked on Tsunami, trying to stop the bleeding, all the ninja in the room could see how grim the situation was but didn't say a word. Chouji walked over to help them, bringing them some water to work with and helping where he could. The trio worked on Tsunami and stopped the bleeding, then Naruto put a blood replacement seal on her, he treated her wound and gave her some herbs to help with the pain. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop as everyone waited for Naruto to give his verdict. It was a very slim chance, but Tsunami finally stabilized, and after being asleep for days, she finally opened her eyes.

"Mmm, Inari..." Tsunami called out weakly.

"Mommy!" Inari shouted as he ran over to her, hugging her tightly and crying. 

Naruto stood up, gathered his stuff, and started washing his hands off the fresh blood he had on them. Tazuna walked over to, "thank you, again, Naruto," he bowed to the blond. Naruto didn't face him, he just continued to wash his hands, "I don't know how else to repay you, you've already done so much for us that I...I..."

"If you want to thank me properly...then finish building that bridge," Naruto stated.

Tazuna lifted his head nodded, he had tears in his eyes, but he still smiled happily. "Yes, I will, thank you again," he bowed to the blond quickly once more before walking over to his darling daughter and crying grandson.

Naruto turned his head to the side to see them, the side of the small family hugging together and crying was something to behold. "...It must be nice," he turned back to washing his hands as Kurama walked over. 

"You know, you'll have a family like that too, soon," Kurama said hugging him from behind. 

Naruto paused his movements, "yeah, I will," he let a small smile grace his face. The smile on his face slowly faced away as he glanced back at the family of three once more, _"but for how much longer will he have his?"_ Later that night after Naruto had his clones take care of all the blood, Tazuna asked Naruto to talk outside. "What's up, old man?"

Tazuna sat down in a chair on the porch and let out a long breath. Naruto couldn't help thinking that he looked ten years older than before somehow. "Naruto, you are so young, yet you show so much power, you walk around like you own the place while still being respectful. The first time I saw you in the village, I could tell that you had a strength about you that could uplift people when they were doing, and at that time, I could use something like that desperately, as you know." The old man sighed, "I know I don't have much longer for this would, so I would like to ask you a favor if you don't mind."

"What? Should I prepare your gravestone already?" Naruto joked as he took a seat on the steps of the porch, his back leaned on the support beam as he watched the old man.

Tazuna chuckled softly but a cough made him stop, Naruto was about to get up to try and help, but Tazuna shook his head. "Listen Naruto," he started once he could speak again, "I'm going to make this request of you, it's an old man's dying wish, so don't refuse, okay?" He smiled brightly at the blond who frowned at him.

"A dying wish, eh? Maybe you're not dying fast enough," the blond stated with a pout. "Saying something like that makes it hard to refuse, so I guess I never had much of a choice in the first place, ne, old man Tazuna?"

Tazuna chuckled, "maa, maa, don't make it seem like I'm the bad guy here." He leaned back in his chair and looked out at the darkened sky, "I was hoping that, if it's not too much trouble, could you take in Inari for me when I'm done with the bridge? I've already talked it over with Tsunami, she agrees with it and we've already prepared for this since we both know what's going to be happening soon anyway. What do you say?"

"You sure old man? This is your grandson and you're sending him away with a complete stranger," Naruto stated as he leaned his head back onto the support beam. "Are you really okay with sending him away before you die?"

A sad look came over Tazuna's face, "then what will you have me do? Let him stay here until I and his mother died, leaving him alone? He would have to watch both of us dying every day before his very eyes while he watches, powerlessly. Is that any way for a child to remember their parent and grandparents lives, by watching it come to an end without being able to help ease their suffering, or even stop it? Haa, it's so depressing, I can't bear letting my sweet grandson go through such a thing all lone."

"But he won't be alone."

"Eh?" Tazuna looked down at Naruto, he was looking out into the darkness of the forest.

After a long silence between the two, Naruto finally spoke, "...I'll take care of me. I do everything to raise him right, but." He turned his face to the elder, "you have to give him something to remember you both by. I can't just tell him about you because I've only just met you guys, you were there when he was born. I think a gift from you guys will be much better than any story that I can tell him."

"Oh, yes...that sounds like a good idea," Tazuna looked up at the stars again. "Thank you, Naruto."

"And you better finish that bridge, old man, there's no negotiating on that account," Naruto started looking up at the sky.

Tazuna gave a quick laugh, "yeah, you got a deal...little brat."

* * *

**Six days later**

A few days passed after that night and the bridge's construction was finally finished. Since most of the works from that day had died, Tazuna's workforce was down to only those that managed to escape from the massacre in time. However, since Gato was gone, the whole village helped Tazuna finish building the bridge. It looked like Naruto's antidote and vaccine worked its charm as most of the villagers that helped out looked as healthy as a horse. He was still worrying about the after-effects of the two in the long run, but for now, he was satiated with his work. He decided to take Shikamaru and Chouji up on their offer to help make something to help Tsunami's symptoms, as well as other villagers who had yet to wake up yet. They came up with something that would help slow down the damages to their internal organs caused by Gato's poison, and those villagers woke up. Although the villagers managed to wake up with Naruto's new drug, the damages to their bodies were irreversible, sadly enough. Now that Tsunami was awake, she tried her best to spend as much time with Inari as she could. Every day she would try to tell him a story or teach him something important, whatever she could think of. Inari was simply happy to have his mother with him, she started to look a little than before, although she still was weak, she was able to walk around a little now, and he was grateful for that. Seeing how Naruto was able to use medicine to help his mother get better, Inari decided that he wanted Naruto to teach him about being a medic ninja after Kurama told him about the different types of ninjas. Naruto was a little hesitant to agree, Tsunami and Tazuna both looked at each other before looking at Naruto, "would something like that be possible?" Tazuna asked, they were civilians, they didn't have any ninja background, so he wanted to know now if his grandson's dreams would come true.

Naruto looked at them, "well, I suppose, with a little training, he could become a medic ninja. But he would need to become a ninja first, would that be alright with you guys?" 

Tsunami was not sure that she wanted her son to become a ninja, but seeing the determined look on her son's face pushed away all her fears. "Yes, I'm worried, but I will hope for the best. So, Inari, do your best, I'll make sure to root for you from the bottom of my heart no matter where you are," she gave him a warm smile and hugged him as tight as she could. 

"Thanks, mom, I'll do my best!" Inari stated happily hugging her back.

"Well, if that's the case, then I'm gonna need to take you back to the village with me," Naruto started folding his arms. The four of them were sitting in the living room while everyone else was outside doing their own thing since Gato's men had done so much damage to their village. And now that he was gone, the villagers would request the ninja to help with rebuilding, Naruto already had some of his clones taking care of a few projects in town, so they were currently alone in the house. "You're going to have to work hard, Inari, you can't quit no matter how tired you feel, and above all, you can't run back home until you've accomplished your goals. Understand? Follow these three things and I will teach you everything you need to know about becoming a ninja, and then you can start your training to become a medic, deal?" 

Inari looked Naruto in the eye, the little boy's smile was stunning as he nodded his head, "yes! I promise, Naruto-nii, I won't quit no matter what!"

Naruto smiled, "good, I've been told that I'm a tough teacher, but that won't change even if it's you. So get ready, Inari, your training starts now." He got up from his spot and started towards the front door, he looked back at the surprised face of the little boy and his family. He smiled warmly at them, "well? What are you waiting for? You wanna make your mom and grandpa proud, right? Get a move on!"

"Right!" Inari jumped out of his mother's arms and started to run towards the door. But he paused for a second, turned around to run back to his mom to give her a quick kiss and a hug to his grandpa, thanking them for letting him do this. For letting him leave, he was sad to go, but he didn't want his mother or grandpa, or anyone else like them to suffer at the hands of an evil man like Gato again, he was going to accomplish his goal and come back to take care of them. "Thank you guys, I'll come back as a medic ninja to make sure to protect everyone!" He let go of his grandpa and ran out of the living room to go pack since the ninjas would be leaving soon. 

Naruto turned to the two once Inari was gone, "this is your last chance before he comes back down." He started, "you'll miss him if you don't."

Tazuna folded his arms, "what's this? Are you going back on your promise already, Naruto?" 

Tsunami giggled, "dad is right, there's only one more day of work left on the bridge anyway. So it only makes sense, doesn't it? Besides, Inari really looks up to you, so I think it would be good for him to live with his big brother Naruto for now until he can accomplish his dream. Don't you think so?"

Naruto couldn't argue with them on this, this was their last wish. "Fine, suit yourself," he turned around to head for the front door, "just remember to give him a proper gift to remember you by, that's our deal." the two nodded their heads, already resigned to their fate. Naruto walked out of the house with a smile but that smile soon faded once the door closed behind him. He looked down at the wooden boards that made up the porch, "well..." He lifted his head to see the afternoon breeze swaying the trees, "I guess it's too late to ask them something so stupid when they've already made up their minds."

**To be continued...**


	15. Deals

The final day of the mission in wave came quicker than they anticipated. As per the agreement he had with his parents, on the last day of the mission when the bridge was finally finished, Inari would leave with Naruto to become a medic ninja. "Were's going?" Sakura asked when she noticed Naruto walking over with Inari who had a full bag on his back. 

"He's coming with us," Asuma answered.

"Huh? Why?" Ino asked.

"That's-" Asuma started.

"That's none of business," Shikamaru stated coming to stand next to her. Chouji walked over with Haku behind Naruto and Inari, and Kurama was riding piggyback on Zabuza's back in place of his giant sword. When Ino and Sakura saw Zabuza, they thought he looked pretty scary and tried to hide behind Shikamaru for safety, this annoyed the boy greatly as he was in a bad mood this morning because of his morning sickness, "what the fuck are you guys doing? Get odd me, are ya'll ninjas or pussies?"

"Shikamaru?" Asuma had to look twice at his usually lazy student, he had never heard anyone in the Nara clan, well maybe some of the wives, use such language. "You okay there bud'?"

"No! Tell them to get off, I don't like it when people hide behind others why they're supposed to know how to fight themselves," Shikamaru pouted. 

"Uhm, okay, Sakura, Ino, what's gotten into you?" Asuma asked having not seen the person Kurama was using to carry him around, Kakashi was too busy looking at his pervy book to pay much attention to them.

Sakura pointed to Zabuza who stopped in front of them, Zabuza sneered at Sakura, "you got a problem with me, Pinky?" Kakashi looked up from his book, finally, and nearly dropped his book at the sight of Zabuza carrying one of his students on his back. Kurama, for his part, looked dead with the way he draped his arms over Zabuza's shoulders.

"You! What are you doing here?" Kakashi stared at the ronin with a wide eye, "and why's Kurama on your back, what did you do with him?" He narrowed his eye at the suspicious man.

Zabuza rolled his eyes, "I'm just carrying him because he said he wasn't feeling good. Geez, with the way you talk, people are gonna think I killed him or something," he turned to Naruto. "Oi, Naruto, does he always act this annoying?"

Naruto looked up from talking to Inari, "yeah, but sometimes he's even more annoying," then he went back to talking to Inari. He was telling him about the village and the types of training he was going to be doing with him. He wanted to give him some hope of making it to his dream, so he didn't go into too many details about it, he didn't want to scare the kid off so soon. Tazuna and Tsunami came over to wish Inari good luck on becoming a ninja and to give him a farewell gift. While they did that, Naruto walked over to Zabuza and Haku, "what's up with him?" He asked looking at Kurama, "he was doing fine this morning, is he not feeling well?"

"Uhm, actually, I saw Kurama throwing up outside when we came to meet up with you." Hakur explained, "when he saw Zabuza, he cried about not wanting you to find out so he asked my master to carry him instead."

"Hm, so that's where he went this morning," Naruto turned back to look up at Kurama's sleeping form. "Okay, just let me know when you get tired of hauling his ass around and I'll put him on Dante's back for the rest of the trip."

"Sure, but he's not all that heavy compared to my sword, I'll be fine for a while," Zabuza stated, Naruto nodded.

Kakashi and Asuma watched the casual conversation between Naruto, Zabuza, and the fake hunter ninja, Haku. A few days back when they first met the two when the house was attacked, they said that they were acquaintances of Naruto's. But they couldn't fathom how Naruto became friends with, nor how he met an A rank missing ninja from the Hidden Mist Village. They wanted to ask, but Naruto never gave them a chance, and neither Zabuza or Haku was willing to talk on friendly terms with the two jonin, so they dropped it for later. "So where are you guys off to now?" Kakashi asked curiously, he didn't really expect an answer though.

"Konoha," Haku stated plainly.

"Oh, I see....wait, you said Konoha?" Kakashi was about to go back to the book he was reading but stopped to look back at the boy, "why?"

"We don't have to tell you anything, Hatake," Zabuza said in an almost bored tone. 

Kakashi frowned under his mask as he closed his book and put it back into his vest pocket. "Alright team, let's start heading back!" He called out as he walked onto the bridge to wait for both his and Asuma's teams to follow. Asuma was not far behind him, Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke followed soon after. Chouji and Haku continued talking about different recipes that involved herbs, Zabuza followed behind them with Kurama sleeping on his back. Naruto waited for Inari to finish his goodbyes with his grandfather and mother, the little boy gave the two adults a teary hug before running over to Naruto with a book in his hands.

Naruto guessed that this was their parting gift, "put that in your bag so it doesn't get lost."

"Right, okay," Inari took off his bag and put his present inside while Naruto did some hand signs and slammed his hand down on the ground. 

Dante appeared a second later, **"what's up, Naruto, finish with your mission already?"** The giant wolf asked as he stretched his limbs, the other villagers looked at the great white animal in awe.

"Yep," Naruto picked up Inari and placed him on the wolf's back. "Hold on tight, Inari, he goes really fast," Inari nodded. Shikamaru yawned next to him, he turned to him, "wanna ride?"

"Oh, why thank you, I thought you would never ask," Shikamaru stated sarcastically as he stretched his muscles. "After last night, I can barely keep standing for too long, you're lucky I can't kill you or else I would make you pay for what you did to me," he grumbled as he got onto the wolf's back.

Naruto helped him up, "me? I don't know what you mean, Shika-chan," he said as he gave the boy's butt a small squeeze before Shikamaru was able to fully seat himself.

"You know exactly what you did!" Shikamaru hissed, embarrassed about the butt squeeze, as he glared down at his mate.

"What? You're mad at me when Kurama's the one who suggests we do that in the first place?" Naruto acted hurt, "Shika-chan, you wound me."

"Yeah, whatever," Shikamaru turned away from the blond's fake dramatic act. He couldn't comfortably fight with the blond since there was an actual child between them looking at them curiously, Naruto chuckled as they started walking over to the others.

"Hey! Can the two drama kings hurry up? We've got a long way to go before we get back to the village!" Chouji called out to them and Haku giggled.

"We're coming!" Shikamaru called back.

"We don't need to know what you two are doing, there're children around!" Chouji called back to them, earning a full laugh from Haku who tried to cover his mouth to hide it, and a small chuckle from Zabuza.

Asuma and Kakashi both had slightly disturbed looks on their faces, "were they always like that?" Kakashi asked curiously, he really couldn't tell, Naruto looked so carefree that he had almost mistaken him for someone else. Like Minato when he was with his daughter.

"I dunno," Asuma replied, "but Shikamaru looked like he might die from embarrassment...Let's get going before anything else happens." Kakashi nodded and the two teams started heading home.

The trip back home wasn't as long as it was going to Wave, they made good progress and only needed to rest once before reaching the border of Fire country. The reason they needed to rest was that Kurama woke up and early threw up all over Zabuza's back and Shikamaru also needed a break from all the traveling. Since it couldn't be helped, the jonins decided to give the genin a break so they didn't throw up on anyone before they made it back to the village. During the break, Naruto made a clone to finish traveling with them so he could go on ahead in secret to clear things with the Hokage, he had a feeling that this conversation will be difficult. While he was there, he figured that he might as well let dear old dad approve his clan request form. With that said, Naruto sent the clone back in his place while he changed into his ANBU clothes, which he always carried with him just in case of situations similar to this. Naruto traveled at full speed to get back to the village and zoomed passed the guards at lightning speed, he made sure to drop a small fox shaped card as he passed so they didn't panic too much. It was his signature way to enter the village, after all, he didn't like being held up talking when he had other things to do. When he reached the Hokage Tower, he let himself in the usual way and appeared before the Hokage, "Lord Hokage, might I have a few moments of your time?" He waited for a second before looking up to see the blond kage asleep at his desk, Naruto/Fox looked over at the clock, then over the shadows in the office. He saw a slight movement that seemed to answer his question, he stood up and grabbed the cooled cup of tea on the desk, and dumped its contents on the head of the sleeping leader. Fox threw the cup away across the room and got back into position just before the older blond shot up from his desk.

"Huh? What, huh? What going on?" Minato looked around the office trying to find the culprit that dumped actual hot tea on the back of his neck. He didn't have to look long when he saw the ANBU kneeing in front of his desk patiently, "you..." He glared at him for a moment but frowned, "what?"

"I have something urgent to tell you, Lord Hokage," Fox replied, used to the angry tone in the man's voice.

"Well, get on with it," Minato leaned on his palm.

"I have run into two missing ninjas that are willing to pledge their loyalty to me. If you would allow it, I will make them my subordinates," Naruto stated.

"Hm, yeah, that's nice..."Minato paused his yawn to go over what Fox just told him. He looked back at the young ANBU captain as if he told him that he just killed his mother, "you what?! Subordinates? Missing ninjas? Fox are you out of your fucking mind!!" Minato shot up from his seat as he slammed his hands down on the desk, glaring at the ANBU, "what in the hell makes you think that I will allow such a thing?"

"Because you owe me a favor for taking on three SSS rank missions back to back last year just before my darling Hanna's and Lilly's special days." Fox looked up and glared up at the blond kage, "all _three_ days." 

Minato gulped, he could feel Fox's glare and killing intent towards him like a blade pressed against his throat. But he couldn't back down so easily, "even so, sorry, by the way, but still! I can't just allow you to bring missing ninjas into the village as your subordinates, loyalty pledge or not!" He sat down in his chair folding his arms, "that's final!"

Fox stood up from his spot slowly, "really? Then I guess I won't hand off a little gift to you then. It was a special one too, oh well."

Minato narrowed his eyes at Fox, "what gift are you talking about? If you're talking about the gift of sleep, you already ruined that for him today, thanks."

"Oh, no, no, that's not it. It's more special than that," Fox stated as he placed some papers in front of the Hokage, Minato looked at him curiously before glancing at the papers. "It's a new clan and bloodline limit. All you have to do is allow my two new subordinates in, and we'll be off to a good start with this new clan. I'll even introduce you to the owner of the new bloodline limit myself, he should be on the way here now." Fox smirked under his mask when he saw the curious look in Minato's eyes, he tried to hide it, but it didn't work. Not on him.

"What kind of bloodline is it? How is it that I can trust this person that you're bringing with it?" Minato asked trying to be cool while making a deal.

"Oh, I think you can trust him as far as you can throw him, and with your strength, it might be pretty far." Fox said smoothly, "this bloodline limit is the rarest of the rare, it hasn't been seen since the birth of Ninsho during the time of the Sage of Six Paths himself."

Minato's eyes widened, "what, you mean-"

"The Reagan," Fox finished his thought for him.

"No way! Who on earth could have such a powerful dojutsu without anyone knowing about it all this time?" Minato asked shooting up to his feet again, "where did you find him? How? W-"

"Ahahaha, well, sorry, Lord Hokage, but that's all a secret. As I said, he's on his way here now, so you should ask him yourself? He'll be wearing a dark green jacket red boots traveling with the wolf's contract." Fox explained, "he wants to make a clan here and I told him I'll help him out, so what do you say, Lord Hokage? Are you really gonna pass up the user of the Renigan?" He felt sort of like a sneak with the way he was baiting Minato, but he was trying to get his clan approved the quickest way he knew how. He already had two established members of his clan, and one candidate that was about to turn into a member, this way, the council couldn't force anyone on him that he didn't want. If it wasn't for Shikamaru and Kurama getting pregnant before, then he was sure that the council would have tried to control his fist choice in who to marry in the future. They probably still could, but he would deal with that when it came up. Minato still looked pensive about his decision, "Lord Hokage, you heard the rumors about how strong this bloodline is, and let's not forget that this is not the only village looking for bloodlines. Though we may have the most, a dojutsu like that doesn't come around every day."

"Yes, you're right, it doesn't..." Minato picked up his pen and tapped his chin for a minute as he looked down at the papers. "Alright, you have a deal, you may bring in the two missing ninjas, but if it turns out that these two can't be trusted, then you'll be held responsible." Minato signed the papers and handed them back to Fox, "by the way, who are these missing ninjas that you have coming to my village?"

Fox took back the papers and sealed them away for safekeeping, "Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice who also happens to have a bloodline limit. However, he has chosen to join the Renigan user's clan instead of starting his own, would you mind that?"

"Two bloodline limits? Are you a serious fox?" Minato asked a wide eye, this was every kage's dream, bloodlines don't just fall from the sky every day, but he was cautious. "Where did you find two bloodline users?" 

Fox chuckled, "that's for me to know. I work magic, but I don't give secrets, that's my policy, you know that, Lord Hokage."

Minato frowned, "I do." He sighed as he tossed himself back in his chair, "fine, whatever, you may go now."

"Thank you for your time, Lord Hokage," Fox smirked and disappeared in the usual way that ANBU does.

Minato frowned at the empty space, "that guy. Why is he so good at getting under my skin," he put a hand over his eye and yawned. "I need some fresh air before I fall asleep again," he got up and walked out of the office. Deciding to go on a walk before more paperwork showed up, he told his secretary that he would be out for a while. Actually, he just went home to sleep in his bed, but no one really needed to know about that.

**To be continued...**


	16. Secrets family

Naruto waited outside the tower for teams ten and seven to show up. He was still dressed in his ANBU uniform so they didn't reconise him, using his allies, he approached his clone, "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza?" He hated using that last name, but he won't need to for much longer.

"Yes?" The clone answered.

"The Hokage would like to see you," he then walked into the tower without getting a reply, like most ANBU's usually try to do. The team walks in behind him, the clone stayed behind to help Inari and Shikamaru off of Dante's back before also going inside. Before he left the group to come to the village, Naruto had told Dante to follow them inside, so once the wolf's passengers were off his back, he transformed into a smaller version of himself. The smaller version of Dante was about the size of an average dog which he used to follow both teams up the stairs to the Hokage's office. Going up the stairs, Shikamaru gave Fox a once over with his eyes and determined that this must be Naruto's ANBU allies, he was always curious about what animal Naruto's allies would wear. It was kind of ironic that it turned out to be a fox after everything that's happening. The two teams reached the office after a while and Fox led them inside but stopped when he saw the empty chair. "Excuse me while I go get the Hokage for you," Fox disappeared in a swirl of blue flames that looked really cook to the genin and little boy. A few minutes later, Fox returned with a very upset Hokage, "here you are, Lord Hokage, the person I was telling you about before," he stated as he plopped Minato back into his chair. Minato pouted at the small ANBU captain, he was just having a nice little nap at him when Fox kicked down his door and dragged him out of his bed. Literally, and brought him back to the office.

"Hmph, you didn't need to kick the door down, Fox, I was gonna get up in a few minutes," Minato pouted childishly. 

"If I believe that lie, Sir, I wouldn't have to bring you back like this," Fox stated before disappearing from sight.

Minato pouted, "hmph, someone should have taken the time to teach him some manners." He sighed, "okay, let's see here," he looked at the people before him, "team seven and team ten. Make your reports," he stated as he looked over the team, Kakashi stepped forth, since this was supposed to be his team's mission in the first place.

"Sir," Kakashi stated formally and started stating word for word what happened on the way to Wave.

As he talked, Minato looked over the genin with him, _"Fox did say that the Renigan user would be wearing a green jacket and black boots, so let's see."_ His eyes quickly zeroed in on the only person wearing green amongst the group. Naruto. Naruto was wearing a green hoodie with the words, 'Oogi Booig' on the front in with the letters being formed by fake rips that looked to be painted on expertly, navy blue ninja pants, and black lace-up boots, his headband was around his neck as usual. Minato narrowed his eyes at the younger blond, _"is this a joke?"_ He looked at the three other new faces in his office, first was Zabuza, then a boy around the genin's age, and a little boy that looked around five or six. _"Is it the little boy, or the older one maybe? Also,"_ his eyes turned to look at the little wolf that was sitting in the corner of the room next to the door, _"does that mean that Naruto is the one that has the wolf contract? How's he get it? I was planning to have it found so I could give it to Iko. It would be a big help since she's the child of prophecy."_ When Kakashi was done reporting on the mission, Minato nodded, "I see," he turned back to looked back at the team, "alright, make sure that everyone turns in their written reports to me before the end of the day so I can read them later. Everyone may leave except for Naruto, Zabuza, and the two boys."

"Thank you, sensei," Kakashi bowed before the blond kage before he and Asuma lead their teams out of the office. 

While everyone else was leaving, Naruto motioned for Kurama, Shikamaru, and Chouji to stay, as well as Dante. "But he only asked for you and them, what's going on?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Trust me, you're gonna wanna see this," the clone smirked. Chouji and Shikamaru were curious about what Naruto meant by this, but decided to stay to see for themselves. Kurama closed the door once everyone else had left and they all turned back to the blond kage, "well, we're here. What do you want, old man?"

"Naruto, that's no way to answer your father," Minato stated in a bit of irritation, he sighed. _"Why is he so rude? Didn't anyone teach him any manners?"_ He wondered and was reminded of Fox, he shook his head of those thoughts and looked at the son he hadn't seen, let alone talked to in an unknown amount of time. "Anyway, I was told about your little secret, Naruto," Minato folded his arms in front of him as he leaned back in his chair, "is there anything that you wanna tell me? Now's the time."

Clone Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno what you mean, old man."

Minato narrows his eyes at Naruto, "is that so? So you don't have the Renigan?" Shikamaru and Chouji tensed up a little when they heard him say that. Zabuza and Haku looked at the younger blond curiously, while Inari just stood next to Dante in confusion. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't budge an inch.

"The Renigan? What's that? A new type of ramen?" Naruto asked in a bored tone. 

"It's a bloodline limit for the eyes," Minato replied wondering if he was somehow tricked by Fox, "isn't that what you have?"

Naruto smirked, "a bloodline limit? Geez, I wonder...what's a bloodline limit anyway?" 

Minato frowned, "don't play dumb with me, I told you about different types of bloodlines just last year, don't tell me that you've forgotten already," he stated a little upset at his son. 

Naruto chuckled, "I don't know, was I home last year? Or was it just Iko that you're mistaking me for? I know that we're twins, but to mistake gender when it presents itself so plainly in front of you is a little bad, don't you think, Lord Hokage?" 

Minato looked at his son for a long moment before he realized something. "When was the last time that you were actually home, Naruto?" He asked as he couldn't seem to remember the last time he saw his son come out of his room for dinner, he thought that the had locked himself in there to be rebellious about something. Then again, why hadn't he been able to see his son walking around his house at all in general in the past? Was he always away for training, or was he really not in the house all this time?"

"Don't you know, Lord Hokage?" Naruto asked making Minato look at him for answers, "that day, on my fifth birthday, you were the one that threw me away. Do you really not remember, I'm talking about the prank I pulled that made Iko cry."

"Wow, you threw your son away over a little prank?" Zabuza had to admit, even he wasn't that cold.

"That's not what happened!" Minato shouted trying to defend himself, but then the memory in question came back to him clear as day. He remembered coming home with Kushina and Iko that day after celebrating with the villagers at the festival. He remembered hearing Iko scream for some reason and seeing someone laying on the floor covered in blood. Or at the time, he thought it was blood...and he thought it was a random person, who happened to have blond hair...and looked about his daughter's age. "No..." Minato sat back down in his chair, now that he thought about it, he couldn't really remember spending much time with Naruto at all. From the day he was born, to now, it always seemed like Iko was the one that was in front of him and he thought that Naruto was right behind her. Always, he never questioned that the two would ever be apart because they were twins and he just assumed that they were always going to stick together. No matter what happened. He ever saw them fight even once. Now that it seemed like he was finally thinking clearly, he wondered when it was that Naruto actually stops being in the picture, he couldn't recall, he looked up at his son. "But, how do you have a dojutsu, the Namikaza's don't have one."

Naruto shrugged, "I guess the Uzumaki's might have had another bloodline that they didn't tell anyone about. Who knows, I just know that I am able to build my own clan now, thanks to you, _dad_ , thanks a lot by the way." Naruto smirked as he placed an arm around Shikamaru, "I already have the papers approving it, so you can't deny it now that you've already signed them. Oh, and Zabuza, Haku, and Inari are going to be staying with me. You don't have a problem with that, do you, _dad,_ or should it just stay as Lord Hokage since that's what we're both used to by now anyway?

"W-wait, Naruto, how is it that you have the Renigan? I don't believe it," Minato started feeling as if he was losing his son all over again when he just found him.

"Yeah?" Naruto channeled some chakra in his eyes and they turned purpled with ripple in them. "Can you believe it now?" Minato stared at Naruto's Renigan eyes for a long time, he couldn't believe that his own son had the legendary God-like dojutsu of old. He couldn't take his eyes off of his son's as even when they turned back into those icy blue orbs that threatened to send chills up his spine, "now then. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take my leave with my friends. If you and the council want to set up a meeting, just ask Shikaku to do it and Shikamaru will get me the message, that's all I have to say to you for now. Ja ne," Naruto walked out of the office with Zabuza holding the door for them.

Haku turned to Chouji as they walked out, "what happened there? It seemed so cold don't you think?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Chouji stated and started telling him about all the things that Naruto told him and Shikamaru a few months ago. Inari glanced back at Minato, the man looked defeated, like he had just lost something important and he just realized it now. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know the situation well enough to know what to say to make the man feel better. 

"Inari, come on, we're heading home," Naruto started waiting by the door for the little boy.

"I'm coming!" Inari quickly ran over to Naruto and held his hand so he wouldn't get left behind again, he threw one more glance at the blond kage over his shoulder as he walked. Minato was watching them go, he couldn't stop them, he didn't have a reason to and he didn't know how he was going to explain himself after all this time. He didn't know what to say to his own son, why was that? Either way, what was done, was done, he needed to move on.

Minato pressed a button on the intercom to contact his secretary, "please get Fox in here."

_"Yes, Lord Hokage,"_ came the voice of the secretary.

"There's no need for that, Lord Hokage, I was here the whole time," Fox started appearing in front of the man silently. 

"You...ah, well, I guess that means that you saw everything," Minato stated sadly as he looked down at the papers on his desk.

"Yes, everything," Fox started in his usual tone of not being fazed by anything. "What is it that you need?"

"Oh, right," Minato looked threw the drawers of his desk and took out a B ranked scroll, "this. I want you to go on this mission to find out what happened to the seven tails jinchuriki. I heard reports that they died and the seven tails had been transferred to someone else a few years ago, so I would like to see I guess I just wanted to see what the person was like."

Fox stayed quiet for a long moment as he watched the Hokage, "Lord Hokage, I was wondering. Why are you trying to check up on the jinchurikis lately? Just two years ago, you asked me to look into the Suna jinchuriki, and now the seven tails? I can't help but think that you might be trying to do something with them for your own again."

Minato sneered at Fox, "alright, I've heard just about enough of that from you, Fox! You are an ANBU captain under me! Not the other way around, I asked you to fulfill an order and you must do it since it's your job to obey me! You will leave at the start of next week, that should be more than enough time for you to go to your daughter's parties and say goodbye, isn't? In fact," Minato took out a blank scroll and started scribbling something down on it, "you can do a check-up on the one tails as well, while you're out! Don't come back until you've completed both assignments and made a report about them in detail. You're taking Weasel and Kit with you for both missions, do you understand?" 

"...Understood," Fox took the scroll from Minato once he was done scribbling what he needed on it, stamped and signed. He put both scrolls into a storage seal in his pocket and turned back to the Hokage, "will that be all? Or do you have another mission you want to force me out off the village on?"

"Yes!" Minato was so angry at Fox's attitude that he doubled up on the missions without thinking. He even made up one just so that Fox would be out of the village longer since he knew that the young captain liked to sometimes finish his missions quickly. With that in mind, he really didn't want to see the young captain too soon, so he thought up another mission for him to do just in case he did manage to finish both missions too soon. He took out another blank scroll from his desk and started scribbling on it quickly just as before, "yes, I think I will give you this mission since you're being so cocky. I would like to see how long it take you to finish this one as well. I'm setting it as an SSS rank with a possibility of death so you better not get caught acting up, and I want both your teammates to come back and personally give me their reports, or else you don't get paid. Understood."

Naruto rolled his eyes behind the mask, he could clearly see Minato was just being childish, but he was undercover now. He shouldn't torment him for much longer unless he gets kicked out of the village for a whole year! Fox nodded, "understood, Lord Hokage, what is the mission?"

"Once you've finished checking up on both containers, I want you to research a newly formed group called the Akatsuki. I've gotten reports that they were just formed at the beginning of last year. I can't say that they are a group that I like very much, because of their suspicious behavior, not to mention their members are all ronins." Minato explained in a serious tone, he had slipped back into 'serious Hokage' mode, which was the only thing that Naruto could respect about the man. "There is a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist like Zabuza, one from sand, and another one from the rock. That's all the information I could gather on them so far, so I want you to be the one to keep an eye on them and update me regularly. So far, they have only been taking missions, but they don't stick to just one place for these missions. So far, they haven't taken any missions from the Hidden Villages yet, but with their record of picking up just any job. And..."Minato looked at Fox for a second, he really was young now that he thought about it. He looked to be about the same hight as his son, so he was starting to feel bad that he was sending him on so many missions at once, but he really wanted to teach him a lesson. Though it may be overkill, he knew that fox had some good skills that have come in value to the village and he wanted to make sure that he kept those skills alive for as long as he could. As it stood, Fox was strong for a kid, he often wondered who his parents were and why they threw him away just because of a deformed complexion, if he was his son, he would be much kinder to him. He signed, but there were so many things that he needed to know bout and Fox delivered results better than anyone, he wished he had more soldiers like him. "Once you come back from this mission, there is one more thing that I will need you to look into and then I will give you one year off of duties before placing you as an instructor to teach anyone you want, but!" He leaned forward on his elbows and laced his hands together as he watched the masked body from behind them, "I want you to train the new chunin recruits we'll be getting from our village after the second chunin exams of this year. I feel that it would be good to pass down some of your skills to just in case, it would also be helpful to the village if you do."

Fox nodded, "thank you, I will do my best. I'll go tell Weasel bout the missions now, and since I can be a bit of a tough teacher, I would suggest you warn all the chunin-hopefuls, as well as anyone else they will want to take a class under me after word gets out about this."

"Oh, so you really are as tough an instructor as they say, huh?" Minato asked relaxing a but, "good, then I leave it to you to train the next generation as well."

"You mean the genin, sir?" Fox asked.

Minato nodded, "yes, I have heard that there are quite a few good ones in the bunch this year. You can choose the ones that you want to train, and even take on as apprentices, whichever you fancy is fine, just don't kill anyone, and don't get anyone killed, understood Fox? Other than that, you can do just about anything you want with them as long as they are able to fulfill their duties, I will sanction anything method that you choose since I'm giving you so much work. So is that a deal?"

Fox thought about it for a moment, "I see, you're trying to use me to get better ninjas," he smirked under his mask. "I don't mind being used, as long as it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. Shortly, don't get over yourself so fast, okay, Lord Hokage, we can't be having a childish leader doing whatever he feels like. It would reflex badly on the village."

"Do you want the year break to be taken away, or what, Fox?" Minato asked grumpily.

"Take away my long break, and I won't teach your soldiers a damn thing," Fox said happily. "Well, I'll be going now, see ya," he disappeared in a poof of smoke signally that he was only a clone this whole time.

Minato's eyebrow twitched at the realization, "damn Fox."

* * *

When Naruto returned home, he was met with an arm full of Kiba, "Naruto! Naruto! I have great news!" The Inuzuka shouted happily at the blond.

"Yes, yes, Kiba, what's wrong, I'm kinda tired right now," Naruto stated as he took off his maks while he held the other boy. He paused for a second when he noticed something, he looked down at where his hand slides down to Kiba's stomach, he felt how firm it felt as opposed to the softness he was used to. He blinked at the belly for a moment when he realized what it meant, he looked back up to Kiba. "You're pregnant?"

Kiba smiled an unbelievably bright smile at him, "yep! I just found out last week, I was going to tell you but you had already left by then. I'm about a month along."

Naruto smiled, suddenly he no longer felt tired, "this is great!" He hugged Kiba happily, not only did I manage to make it back just in time for Hanna's birthday, but now you're pregnant too? This is the best gift you could give, Kiba," he pulled back and kissed Kiba on the lips, "thank you."

Kiba's face was pink from embarrassment, "I-I t-tried my best..."

"Hm, you sure did," Naruto patted Kiba's head lovingly before leaning in closer, and whispering. "Would you like to try your best again tonight?" Kiba's face turned bright red at the thought and he nearly fainted. Naruto chuckled at how cute the other boy had become. Now that he thought about it, now that the clan was approved, he could marry Kiba, Kurama, and Shikamaru since they were already pregnant. He could also bring in other clan members to help grow his clan, he wondered if he could get Gaara to join as well since he was ordered to 'check up on him' anyway, he could just ask. He would also ask Shukaku if he wanted to join as well..."wait!" Naruto gasped, he stopped petting Kiba's head as an idea filled his head, "Kiba, where's Shikamaru and the others right now?"

Kiba was a little disappointed that he wasn't being petted anymore, "they're in the back getting ready for Hanna's party. Hinata and Shino had taken both Hanna and Lilly out to the park earlier so we could set up. Why?"

Naruto smiled, "great, I've got some great news for them, but first, let's go to the back."

"Okay," Kiba led Naruto to the backyard wondering what had him looking so excited. The backyard had grown more since the first time Kiba had seen it. There was a pool where the fence used to be now, and a two-story guest house, a small bathhouse, a second greenhouse, and a large dog house. Naruto finally gave in to Hanna's request of having a pet, since Kiba was pregnant now, he supposed that Akamaru might need a girlfriend so he could give Kiba's kids a partner to fight with in the future. This also meant that they would be getting a dog, so Naruto was planning to get at least three one for Hanna, a puppy for Lilly, and one for himself. He could see the value in having some extra guard dogs at home when he wasn't three, so he was going to train all three to protect the house when he had to take Dante with him on missions. He was going to take everyone to the shelter in the morning to help pick out the lucky three that would be coming to live with them soon. The backyard was going to be used to hold more celebrations soon, so Naruto was thinking about expanding it a little more so he could have a proper space to celebrate birthdays and such. They walked over to the playground area where Zabuza and Haku were helping Kurama, Shikamaru, Chouji, and the rest of the clones to decorate the area for Hanna's party. Hanna loved the colors blue and red so Naruto made sure that all her decorations were of that color every year until she changed her mind. Inari was sitting on the wings watching everyone work, not really sure what to do, Kiba had seen him come in with the others and heard what happened in Wave, he turned to curiously, "what are you planning to with this boy, Naruto?"

"You'll see soon," Naruto smirked, "everyone, gather around for a second, I have something to tell you." Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around Naruto, "so, I just came back from the Hokage's office," he pulled out the clan papers from his pocket seal, "and we've finally been approved! We are now the founding members of the Kitsune clan."

"Wow, really?!" Chouji stated excitedly, he had been looking for a reason to get away from his mom, it wasn't that he hated her, but he really disliked the attitude she had towards Naruto. If he was to tell her that he was with the Kitsune clan, she would think that he was just helping out a small clan and would soon leave him alone. Then again, she might try to find out about the clan and try to see if he could marry someone from it to boost relations with a small clan, which wouldn't bother him too much. 

Shikamaru was also happy about this, "wait, so that means you're going to be placed into a CRA, right?" He asked with a slight blush on his face. 

"Yep," Naruto winked at him. "And I've already got two, soon to be three, heirs to announce when our debut date is set."

"Three?" Kiba asked curiously, he could think of Hanna, and Lilly being the first two since he adopted and raised them, "but who's the third?"

Naruto looked down at Inari that was standing in front of him, "it's gonna be Inari."

The boy was shocked, "me? Why?"

Naruto knew that Inari didn't know much about clan matters since he was a civilian and his village didn't deal with ninjas on the daily. "Because for you to stay in the village to do your training, you need to become a member of the village. The quickest way to do that is to have you skip the lines for a visa, and just be adopted in by a clan head, that way, there won't be too much paperwork to fill out. You and my daughters will become the clan heirs of this clan since it's a new clan, there are bound to be a lot of heirs from the start, so there won't be too much fuss over it. You even have black hair and brown eyes like Kiba and Shikamaru, so you would fit right in if you hang around them a bit, okay?" Inari looked up Shikamaru who gave smiled at him and ruffled his hair, Naruto turned back to everyone else, "Zabuza, this is apart of the favor I owe you. For you two to stay in the village from now on, I'm going to make you and Haku apart of the clan. You'll be my sponsor since I am only twelve, you'll need to stand in for me at the meetings until I become of age, in between those meetings, you'll be my subordinate in the ANBU since I'm guessing that you're capable enough to pass the exam to get in, I won't worry too much."

"Damn it, you're already putting me to work huh, well, I guess that's better than sitting around getting my ass rusty now," Zabuza laughed.

"However," Naruto continued turning to Haku, "I can sense that Haku's only at chunin level. Plus you have a bloodline so the council is going to try to put you into a CRA or a CCA too, would you want that?"

Haku shook his head, "no, but that's because I'm not sure what those things are," stated innocently. Kurama leaned over and whispered in his ear for a moment and he blushed, "ah, s-s-so that's what it is, um, I think I would rather not then."

Naruto nodded, "that's good, I already told the Hokage that you would be apart of my clan with Zabuza anyway. Now then, as for the other matter, now that we've become an official can, we won't be able to just come back to place without anyone noticing anymore. That means that we're going to have to up the security a bit so that only clan members can enter, and any guest that we bring will need a pass from one of us to enter."

"Oh! I wanna make the seals for that this time!" Kurama said jumping up excitedly, he loved making traps and tricking people into them when he's on missions. Making seals to protect the compound that Naruto has built will be even more fun for him.

"Sure, you'll be the official Seal Master of the clan them, Kurama, since you were the one that taught me." Naruto explained, "next, since we're going to be in the spotlight for a while, we're going to need to be aware of the people that approached us from now on, they're going to try to get in good with you guys to get to the clan head. If they manage to sway the acting clan head, then they will do everything in their power to run this clan into the ground, or use it for their own gain, so watch out for that guys."

"Wait for a minute Naruto, why don't you tell this to Hinata and Shino too?" Kiba asked, "can't they be apart of the clan too? They come around all the time."

"Don't worry Kiba-chan, I'll tell them and the girls all about this later. For right now, things need to be taken slowly, I have some upcoming missions that's gonna take me away from the village for a while so I don't know if I'll be here for a while starting next week."

"NEXT WEEK!!" Kurama, Chouji, and Kiba shouted.

"But you just came back from a mission today, Naruto," Haku stated. "Would it really be okay for you to go on another so soon?"

Naruto gave him a sad smile, "yeah, but I pushed some of the Hokage's buttons, so this is my punishment. I'll be going on some B rank missions and an SSS rank mission starting next week. I don't really wanna go, but by the time I get back, I'll have enough money to build another house like this if I really wanted to, so I'm taking it. Plus I'll be netting a year-long break once I'm back in the village for good. Minato also gave me personal permission to train the new chunin recruits and this generation's genin."

"Dang Naruto, then when are you gonna get time to spend time with us again?" Kiba and Kurama both asked in unison.

Naruto chuckled, "didn't you guys hear? I got a year off, by that time, I'll be a father again," he smiled brightly. Shikamaru and Kiba blushed at that while Kurama latched himself onto the blond's arm happily, "we're gonna be pretty busy before that time comes though, so I want to take things one step at a time for now. I'll be bringing Hinata and Shino into the fold in due time, so be patient a little longer, okay Kiba?"

He petted Kiba's head lightly as before and the Inuzuka blushed more, "okay."

Zabuza shook his head, "so what I'm hearing is that you want my little Haku to also be apart of your harem?" He asked bluntly, he glanced down at his student when he heard an 'eep' sound coming from him. He raised an invisible eyebrow at him, "not that I don't think he would mind, I'm just wondering."

Naruto tilted his head to the side a little as he looked between Zabuza and Haku, "well, I thought I made that obvious from the start. Unless you don't want to Haku, it's fine, you don't have to sleep with me if that's what you're worried about. After someone gets pregnant by me, they can also get pregnant by others too."

"U-uh, n-no, it's not that...I-I-I'm fine with anything," Haku said blushing profusely.

"If that's the case, then you shouldn't say that in front of Kurama," Chouji said looking at the red-haired boy. "He'll take that as an invitation to literally do anything to you, so watch out for him."

Kurama winked at Haku after Chouji said this and the boy blushed even harder, "r-r-right, I-I ke-keep that in mind."

Naruto smirked, "alright~ enough of that, we still have to get ready for Hanna's party. She'll be here soon."

"Okay!" Everyone stated before getting back to work. Kurama let go of Naruto's arm to go back to work for his precious Hanna, and Kiba followed after everyone else. The only one left was Inari, he turned back to Naruto in wonder.

"What is it, Inari, you're staring," Naruto asked looking down at the boy. "Did I say something that made you feel uncomfortable?" 

Inari shook his head, "no, I was just wondering since you said you were going to adopt me, does that mean you're gonna be my father?"

Naruto knew what he meant by this. He already heard what happened to Inarui's real father, and then what Gato did to his father figure, he patted the boy's hair. "Don't worry, nothing bad is gonna happen to me when I sign those adoption papers. I want to make you into the best medic ninja you can be, so I want to do everything in my power to make sure that you're safe, that means, keeping you close at all times. If that upset you in any way-"

"No! No, that's not it, I mean..." Inari was happy with Naruto's words, he smiled up at him, "I'll do my best. I want to make everyone proud, so I'll work really hard to repay you."

Naruto looked down at Inari, realizing that this would probably be his first son after he adopts him. He wished he didn't have to take him in on such sad substances, but it couldn't be helped. "Hey, don't get ahead of yourself...son." Inari's eyes sparkled at the worked 'son', his smile turned blinding as he hugged Naruto. 

"I'll do my best...d-dad," the boy exclaimed before running off to join the others.

Naruto watched him go, he placed a hand over his chest as a warm feeling started to spread there. Something that he hadn't felt since after he took in Hanna and Lilly to raise as his own. _"So, that's the love of a son, eh? Let's see where this takes me."_

**To be continued...**


	17. Clan meetings

**One week later**

It has been about a week since Naruto came back from the Wave mission.

One week since he told the Hokage that he was the user of the Renigan. 

And one week since his clan was approved.

Naruto was supposed to leave for his list of missions today, but first, he had to take care of the meeting that the council demanded he come to. Usually, it took a new clan at least a month to be called into the council room to talk about their statue with both sides of the council, but since it was him, they pushed things. Not because Naruto was the Hokage's son, they wanted to put him in his place, dojutsu or no. Naruto decided to bring Shikamaru, Kurama, Chouji, Kiba, and the others with him, regardless of how rude they are going to preserve him to be by the end of this meeting, he didn't care. It was about time that someone finally lay down the rules around here, and Naruto was going to put anyone who decided that the clan he was building wasn't shit, in their place. Naruto prepared for the meeting ahead of time by making matching haori's for everyone that showed their connection to him. For Kurama, Kiba, and Shikamaru, he had them wear one that was red with an orange fox surrounded in a yellow fire on the back. Chouji and Haku wore matching navy blue ones with a white fox surrounded by black flames. Zabuza wore a black one with a white fox with white flames surrounding the fox. Inari, Hanna, and Lilly wore green ones fitted to their smaller size, theirs only had a yellow fox on the back. Naruto also had Hinata and Shino show up as well, but they didn't wear a haori, however, Naruto was planning to give them theirs in front of the council, he was going to give Hinata a navy blue one, and Shino's was going to be like his and Zabuza's. Although Naruto's fox had four visible tails. There was a meaning behind the colors:

  * Red, orange and yellow were decided to be the colors of pregnant mates.
  * Navy, white, and black indicated regular clansmen
  * Green and yellow were for the children.
  * And black and white were for the adults.
  * Naruto hadn't decided on a color for elders but decided to go with grey for when the time came.
  * And any depiction of a fox with multiple tails would be considered as clan heir or future/past clan head.



Naruto was doing this as a show of rebellion against the council since there seemed to be people that hated him on both sides. He even gave Akamari something to indicate that he was also apart of the clan since he was a ninja hound, it couldn't be a regular collar, so he used a bow collar instead. It had no metal on it so it could be tied and untied anytime, and it had the word 'Kitsune Inu' written in Kanji on the back in white, since the whole thing was navy, with the bow in front. All the dogs would be wearing these types of collars during festivals and special occasions. After Naruto entered the room with his little group, the council, specifically the civilian side, showed their displeasure, "what are all of these people doing here? We only asked for the Renigan user and head of the Kitsune clan to appear before us, not some parade!"

"It is regulations to have the head of the clan, as well as the core members, appear before the council," Naruto stated. He already knew what they were trying to pull, he knew because he took the time to study the clan approval papers and guidelines thoroughly. He wasn't about to get fooled by them, not when they were only halfway through the approval process. He would murder anyone who wanted to tare down his hard work with baseless bias. 

Hiashi turned a glare onto the group when he saw Hinata, "what is the meaning of this. We don't have time to be wasting on childish nonsense," he stated glaring at his oldest daughter. 

Naruto noticed and moved to step in front of Hinata, but she placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head, "no." She whispered, "I'm not the same as I used to be, I'll be fine," she looked him in the eye and he stared back at here. He had been training her and team eight for a little over two months now, so he could tell that she was different now. For one thing, she wasn't stuttering around him anymore, he stepped back in place and turned back to the council, Hinata relaxed a tiny bit when he did, but she felt that she wasn't going to be able to fully relax until the meeting was over.

"If this is childish to you, then I suppose that you can leave, Hiashi, because I came here to talk about some serious business." Naruto stated, "I came care to talk to the Hokage about clan matters, I already have a representative, and started bringing in candidates to be apart of the CCA. As well as having funding and a location, I also decided on the first three heirs for my clan, so no one needs to worry about that. This meeting is more of a formality anyhow."

"This might be a formality to you, boy, but this is serious business!" Shouted a civilian with pink hair, "and who's supposed to be the candidates of your thrown together clan?"

Naruto gestured to the people behind him, "these people you see here today are the core foundation of my clan." He started gesturing to Chouji, Shikamaru, Haku, Kurama, and Kiba, "and these three will be my heirs," he stated indicating to Lilly who was being held by Kurama, while Inari and Hanna both stood on either side of him. "And this man will be my representative until I become of age to sit on the Council. As you can all see," he started as he turned back to face them, "I've already settled everything that was pressing and have not half-assed anything. Will the Hokage reconise the Kitsune clan as a new ninja clan?" It was formally, but he had to show them that he meant business or else they wouldn't take him seriously.

"Preposterous! How can a genin have funding to start up a clan!?" One civilian stated loudly.

"On what grounds do you have to even start this clan in the first place, boy!" Another civilian stated angrily.

"And a ninja clan no less!" Yet another one stated as if it was the end of the world.

Naruto gave them a neural look. _"Where they that surprised to hear that he was being serious, or were they just trying to piss him off,"_ was the thoughts of the others, except the kids, that came in with Naruto.

"I want to punch them, I want to punch them all," Naruto whispered under his breath in English. This shocked the shinobi council members since the only shinobi that travel outside the village often even knew how to speak other languages, like the ANBU, for example.

"What did he just say just now?" A civilian asked another since they weren't taught English in school.

Zabuza sighed, "just hold it in, Naruto, there's no point in running your chances now." Zabuza knew English because he sometimes took trips outside of the Elemental Nations in the past to take jobs and travel in general whenever the heat was too high for him to walk about in other countries. He had no idea how Naruto knew English until he found out that he was an ANBU after coming to the village, since then, they decided to have important conversations in English. He guessed that Minato was in ANBU once upon a time too because he was giving the two of them suspicious looks.

Naruto sighed, "fine," he clasped his hands in front of him, "my apologies, but it seems that I must be missing something. Please, won't you all tell me what I'm missing? I have papers here that show my stability and approvals to back up my claims, I hope after looking over all of these, you can take the time to tell me everything I'm missing." He stated as Haku and Chouji started passing out copies of his bank statements after redacted the name he used to open all of them, as well as other documents. "I have a list of my current clan members as of right now if you would also like to look at them for approval," he said this already knowing that the ones he was choosing to marry and bring into the clan had already signed a marriage proposal agreement form. He was able to secure multiple copies of all the important documents in his office with security seals protecting them. When the small stack of papers, with the list being on top, made it in front of Hiashi, his eyes zeroed in on two names right away. He could understand one of them, but the second one boiled his blood, amongst other things. 

Hiashi shot up from his chair, paper in hand, and glared at Naruto, "what is the meaning of this?"

"What's the meaning of what?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Not only is Hinata on here, but Neji as well?" Hiashi slammed the list down on the table, "don't you know who my heir is? Hinata is firstborn, by law, she is supposed to be the clan heir, not some fools plaything!" 

"That's right!" The pink hair woman shot up again, "and why is it mostly boys' names on this list? Do you take us as fools yourself? How the hell are we supposed to take you seriously when you pull stuff like this?"

"Honestly you both give me a headache, so I'm going to explain this slowly, okay?" Naruto was losing his patience, "my bloodline allows me to have both genders, okay?"

"What bloodline!" Everyone shouted.

Naruto's face paled, "they're doing this on purpose, aren't they?"

"I'm starting to think that myself," Zabuza sweatdropped.

"Hey! Stop speaking different languages while you're in front of your elders!" A civilian shouted.

"Shut up, you're too loud," Naruto said dragging his hand down his face, he was not in the mood to do this anymore. He was getting tired by just listening to them talk back to him and questioning him so much, it was beyond annoying.

"Oi, Naruto, what language are you speaking?" Came the voice behind Naruto, the blond looked behind him to see Neji standing next to Zabuza now.

"Oh, did you just arrive? Did you do the thing I asked you?" Naruto asked turning to Neji who handed him the papers sealed inside an envelope that he asked for.

"I went there and an ANBU told me to give you this," Neji stated after handing over the item. "What language was were you speaking just now?"

"English, you wanna learn? I can teach you later if you want," Naruto stated as he opened the envelope. "I can teach everyone later when I came back," Neji nodded agreeing, he was curious about how to speak in different languages.

"Neji, what are you doing here?" Hiashi asked angrily that he was being ignored by the younger blond.

"I was running an errand for Naruto, uncle," Neji stated plainly.

Minato cleared his throat when it looked like Hiashi was about to lose his composure and start yelling. "Well then, Naruto, let's finally begin since it looks like everyone on your list in present." The older blond said, trying to bring down the tension of the room. He looked over all the documents before turning back to Naruto with his questions, "how were you able to collect so much money as a genin?"

"I did some extra jobs under a different name to save up for a house of my own," Naruto stated plainly. He was happy that this meeting was finally being taken seriously, even though it's only just a means to an end. 

"Why would you need a house? Don't you live in the Uzumaki Namikaza household?" Minato asked looking at his son seriously, he was acting as a Hokage should, but he thought that this was also his chance to finally get some answers. 

"No, I no longer live there anymore," Naruto answered.

"Why? When did you leave, and for what reason?" Minato asked.

"To put it bluntly, the head of the Uzumaki Namikaza household decided to throw me out when I was only five." Naruto stated truthfully, "as for the reason, I have no idea for that."

Minato frowned, "how are you planning to support your clan and contribute the village?"

"I am in the process of opening a shop to sell goods for both shinobi, civilians, and general uses," Naruto replied.

"Why did you decide to make a clan of your own in the first place when you are already apart of a clan?" 

Naruto was already prepared for this one, he could see the other council members looking at him intensely waiting for his answer. "As I stated before, I had already been kicked out of the Uzumaki Namikaza clan home for an unknown reason. After I found out that I had the Renigan, I decided that I needed to take action for myself and started a clan. I also wanted to set a path for my self that wasn't entangled with my past."

"What does that mean?" Minato asked, "more importantly, when did you find out about the Renigan?"

"It means that I no longer want to be apart of the clan that kicked me out without even telling me anything, or showing me any attention when I was younger. As for when I found out, I was about seven years old when it happened." Naruto replied, "I was training one day and it got dark, I didn't want to go inside yet, so I channeled chakra into my eyes thinking that it would help me see better, but it turned out that something else also happened when I did that. When I checked the mirror, I saw that my eyes had changed After that, I did some research in the library and found out that it was the Renigan. Knowing that I thought up a way to protect myself and came up with creating a clan, I started recruiting for my clan afterward while also looking for jobs to save money."

"Who else knows that you have the Renigan?" Came the next question, but this time it wasn't from the Hokage, it was from an old man with his arm in a sling. Donzo, the old war hawk stood up from his seat with his cane, "I mean, you must have told someone when you found out, right? Who else knows that you have this...gift?"

"Only the people that's in this room," Naruto replied giving Danzo a look. He had heard about the old war hawk from an old friend of his, apparently, that friend was supposed to die in one of Donzo's many tests, so he saved him. Sadly, he had to leave that person's brother behind in Donzo's care, ht promised that friend that he was going to save his brother. However, Naruto was just waiting for the right time, Donzo sat back down after getting his answer. Naruto was already sure he was plotting something in his head right now to get him out of the picture and try to control his clan, he would have to go through Zabuza and the others first. He knew that Kurama wouldn't allow it if he had at Donzo's hand.

After a few more questions from the Hokage, the meeting was coming to a close, the last question was. "Are you planning to have a wedding soon? And if so, what is the cost of the dowery for each person or will it be one altogether? Some clans that were just starting used to have the dowery as all in one so that it saved time and effort, but we will acknowledge your choice whatever you chose."

Naruto looked at his friends in turn for a moment, "I will do it separately because there is something that I would like from each clan. From the Inuzuka clan, I will like to have one scroll on ninja hound bonding. From the Nara clan, I want a copy of the book of herbs, old or new, the version doesn't matter to me. From the Akamichi's, I require the rights to build a restaurant in the shopping district, the location doesn't matter. For the rest, I will send a list to you at a later date." 

A civilian woman huffed something under her breath, "I can't believe that we're giving in to such demands from a demon brat like him." 

Of course, Naruto hard it and glared directly at here, he hated when people looked down on him. "And I can't believe that a dirty old hag is allowed to be on the council, but here you are," he smirked.

The pink-haired civilian councilwoman seemed to have had enough of Naruto and shot out of her chair and marched right up to the blond boy. "Watch your filthy mouth you damn brat! Do you not know the meaning of respecting your elders!" She screeched, Naruto deiced that in order not to get into trouble first, he allowed the woman to carry out her next actions which came swiftly. _Slap!_ The sound filled the room and everyone sat in shocked silence, even the lazy Shikaku that was slouching and trying not to fall asleep during the earlier questioning was now fully awake and sitting at attention. "That ought to teach you a lesson of talking back, you filthy monster," Naruto smirked, Shikamaru saw this, as well as Chouza, and Shibi who were the close enough to see it happen in full. They could only imagine what the blond boy would do now. Whatever they imagined, was different from what actually happened.

Naruto held his cheek for a second before turning his smirked onto the woman, "you just broke the Hokage's rule." 

"What rule, are you talking back to me, demon?" The woman lifted her had to strike him again, but before she could hit him, he caught her hand.

"It's an unspoken rule that you shouldn't ever touch me." Naruto stated, "even though it's not an official law, but it's my rule. I won't let anyone I don't like touch me, it makes sick just looking at you, why would you dare to touch me? Do you want to die?" Naruto channeled his chakra into his eyes and they changed from ice blue to purple with a ripple pattern in it.

"W-w-what?" The pinkette stepped back from him cautiously, "what's wrong with your eyes. Are you trying to possess me?"

"I won't want that nasty body of yours even if you paid and begged you fucking hag." Naruto lifted his hand up towards her, "you look like you could use a seat." Kurama saw what he was trying to do and handing Lilly over to Shikamaru quickly to stop him. However, he was one second too late when Naruto said, "sit," the pink-haired woman suddenly went flying back into the wall, then through the wall, leaving an adult-sized hole in the wall. The woman screamed as she went flying, the scream was cut off quickly once she went threw the wall, the ANBU guards in the room appeared around Naruto with their weapons drawn at the blond's neck. The other civilians were panicking at the display of power, and the ninjas were talking amongst themselves. Minato was just staring at Naruto as if he was some stranger, "Lord Hokage," Naruto spoke with a dark smile on his face, he dropped the hand on his cheek to his side and stared directly at Minato, "tell that bitch that if she wants to apologies to me, to do it properly. Tell her that I will accept a letter and three thousand ryo for the disrespect she just showed me. You can also put the damages to the wall on her since she was the one that needed me to teach her a lesson."

Kurama sighed, "Naruto, seriously, I told you not to use it to be petty! Now, look at what you did."

Naruto chuckled, "what? Should I have allowed her to disrespect our clan just like that, then? You know she had it coming, didn't you?"

Kurama pouted, "yeah, I do, but didn't have to wast you time showing off on her. I thought you were going to save that for the chunin exams?"

"Oh yeah, I was," Naruto shrugged, "eh, it's done now. No going back."

Kurama rolled his eyes and looked back at the others, Chouji sighed as he looked at the hole the woman made. Haku, Hinata, and the three kids with them looked shocked since it was the first time they had seen Naruto do something like this. Neji was just staring between the wall and Naruto trying to figure out if what he just saw was really real not. While Zabuza and Shino kept a neutral expression on their faces the whole time. Shikamaru had his face in his hand while he held Lilly on his hip with his other arm, "seriously Naruto. How many people are you planning to throw through a wall just because of a stupid comment?"

Naruto turned to him, "oh c'mon, Shika-chan, I was really holding back on that one," he smiled innocently at him. He really was holding back just then, if he had put his full force into it, he would have blown away half the room, "I promise."

Shikamaru pouted at him, "if you do it again, I'm holding out."

At the council table, Shikamaru was sipping his water until he spits it out in shock, "you'll wha!" He asked between his coaked coughing, the council member he was sitting across from didn't find it funny. Shikamaru forgot that his dad was in the room and on the council when he said it, he turned his head to face anything other than his old man. Shikaku was beyond stunned, he had no idea what to say, he didn't have anything against Naruto, he honestly could say why everyone else did. But now that he's heard this, he held a little resentment to the blond. Hoping that his precious son didn't lose his v-card so son because of this troublesome batter, then he remembers seeing Shikamaru's name on the list, "tch, damnit," he grumbled as he leaned back in his chair. "Shikamaru, you know we have to talk about this later, right?"

Shikamaru's face turned red, "yeah, I know," he groaned at his misfortuned, he was hoping that his dad wouldn't find out until after the wedding. Or at least until the wedding announcement. _"This is so embarrassing!"_

Chouji placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I'm here for you buddy." Shikamaru turned to Chouji with a small smile, Chouji smiled back confidently, until his dad called to him. 

"You too Chouji," Chouza stated folding his arms in front of him.

Chouji's head drooped, "I know dad." He heard Shikamaru chuckled a little as he placed a hand on his shoulder

One council member turned to the Hokage, "Lord Hokage, is it that this boy had the Renigan all this time and you not know? And why haven't you told us? Does that mean that Lady Iko has it too?" Minato didn't know what to say to that so he mainly just shrugged his shoulders at him. Naruto wanted so much to tell that this bloodline came from Kurama, not Minato or Kushina, but decided to leave it along. The less they knew, the better, for him.

"Maybe he was born with it and no one bothered to notice until he told them?" Kurama stated drawing everyone's attention to him again, after all, he was sealed inside Naruto when he was born, so he knew how he was treated. He actually decided to give Naruto the Renigan when he turned one after Kushina and Minato started savoring Iko over Naruto. It didn't look like they would pay attention to him any time soon, so this was actually his little 'I'm sorry for being sealed inside you against your will' gift from back then. Everyone else in the council room stared at Naruto's eyes change, the civilian's were especially salty about Naruto having the Renigan instead of Iko, everyone could tell that by the way they glared at the younger blond.

"It shouldn't be him who has it, it should be Lady Iko who developed the eyes," said council member.

"After all that planning, how could the demon have the eyes and not our hero?!" Said the yet another member.

Naruto lifted his eyebrow, "what planning are you talking about?" He asked in true curiosity.

"It has nothing to do with you, demon, stay out of the business of the council," said the first guy that spoke.

Naruto rolled his eyes but said nothing more. He turned back to the Hokage, "if that's all, I have other things to start preparing for, so if this is all the questioning, I would like to leave."

"No! We're not done with you yet, boy!" Hiashi stood up once more, "you can have Neji, but Hinata is not yours to keep! Why couldn't you have come to meet me instead to negotiate this? Am I not a reasonable man?"

Naruto gave Hiashi a look, "reasonable is not the word I would use. However, I suppose you might be right in the case that I could have talked to you. Yet, when I tried to make an appointment yesterday, I was met with resistance." 

"Yesterday? Since when?" Hiashi asked not remembering anyone telling him that Naruto came over.

**flashback**

_Naruto was walking his new dog, Shima, on his way to the Hyuuga compound. He decided to take Hinata on as a partner of the clan, he thought that she would make a good addition since the girls loved her so much. On the way there, he saw Hinata run up to him, a little surprised, he smiled, but he noticed that she didn't seem too happy, confused, he asked, "what's the matter, Hina?"_ _Hinata stopped in front of Naruto and Shima, it looked like she had been running in a panic with the way she was breathing so heavy. This made Naruto curious as to what would make the usually came girl lose her composure like this. When Hinata was finally able to catch her breath, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, this made Naruto even more curious, he turned serious, "what happened?"_

_"Naruto, please help," Hinata said hurriedly._

_"What do you need help with?" Naruto asked, already following Hinata, they were heading to the Hyuuga compound, so he didn't have to stay from his path. Along the way, Hinata told him what had been happening in the past few months. It looks like Hiashi was planning to send her off another village to marry some nobleman, and if she refused, she would be joining the branch members. She heard this from some of the branch members that were good friends with her, Naruto could see that Hinata was very discouraged, but this couldn't be everything. He pressed for more answers and she told him that Hanabi, her younger sister would be pitted against her for the spot of clan heiress, and if she lost, she would still be sent to the branch members. The fight was scheduled to take place in the afternoon tomorrow, but the real reason why Hinata was upset was that the branch members were being mistreated worse than before. From what Hinata told him, a branch member had been found dead a few days ago, but no one knew the reason._

_"The elders won't even look into why he mysteriously died like that," Hinata started sniffling._

_"Why the hell not?" Naruto asked, he was a bit irritated, he gets that the Hyuuga clan had their own way of doing things. However, that did not excuse them from being decent human beings. "Have you see this person's body? What did it look like?"_

_Hinata shook her head, "no, I wasn't able to look. They told me that it wasn't right for the clan heiress to look at such things, they even prepared a burial for that member the next day the news was heard around the compound. The ceremony is supposed to take place in the morning, but they wouldn't even let his wife and child take one last look at his body before putting him to rest. Usually, in our clan, the family of the person gets to chose either to bury or cremate them, but this morning the elders announced that he would be cremated tonight in time for the ceremony."_

_By the time Hinata finished telling him this, they had reached the front gates of the compound. "So, is that what things are like here?" Naruto shook his head and sighed, "well, well, well, I didn't think it would be, but then again..." he looked over to Naruto, "show me where they're keeping the body after I'm done here."_

_"After? Are you here on business?" Hinata asked curiously, when she went to look for him at his compound, he wasn't there. Kurama told her that he just took one of their newly adopted puppies for a walk, so she quickly left to go find him to tell him the news. She was so caught up in her own worries that she didn't think that he was doing much else than walking his dog. Now that she thought about it, Naruto did tell her that he was thinking about making her one of his official students in the new future, so she wondered if he was coming to get approval for that. "Are you meeting with my father now?"_

_"Yeah, I am," Naruto patted her head, "take me there, won't you."_

_"Okay," Hinata nodded and led Naruto to the clan head's office. She knocked on the door and heard her father tell her to come in. "Father," Hiashi looked up at her and sneered, like usual. Hinata didn't let it get to her anymore, she was used to it after all. "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaza-," she started politely but got cut off._

_"Hinata, I don't care about your little crush, please do not bother me with useless things. I have a lot of work to do, and I will not allow for pointless distractions," Hiashi stated in his usual cold tone._

_"But father-" Hinata tried again, but Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder from behind. She looked to her side to see him shake his head, she looked back at her father that seemed to be staring at her as if she was a was an annoyance. She sighed, "very well, father." She closed the door and turned to Naruto with a frown, "I'll just show you the place now." Naruto nodded and followed her, it wasn't like he was expecting to get through, but at least he wouldn't be leaving empty-handed. They made it to the room, it was being guarded by two of Hinata's friends, she talked to them for a few seconds and waved him over and they went into the room. Inside, Naruto saw the body laying on a futon, Naruto gave Hinata Shima's leash to hold while he looked over the body. He had taken a few courses in forensics when he was just starting out in ANBU, all ANBU required to be able to determine things like TOD and the cause without disturbing the corpses in case the enemy came back for them later. He lifted the sheet from over the body and opened the yukata the body was wearing, he guessed that they changed his clothes because the yukata looked new. He looked at the body and he saw many bruises, from whips to shallow knife wounds, and other things of that nature. They were all centered around the places that could easily be covered, this made Naruto even more curious. He Looked up to the person's head, their forehead was bare, usually, he would see the branch members wearing a headband or something to hide the mark that was placed on them when they're only children._

_"Hinata, what do you know about the Caged Bird Seal?" He asked as he looked at the bruise the body still had. Some of them still looked a little fresh even though the body was long cold._   
  


_"I know that it is given to the children of the branch members. Anyone in the main branch that is going to have a second or third child, would usually give them over to the branch. It's an old tradition that was passed down from a long time ago, even the clan head has to give over the second child to the branch so that there is no competition for the spot of future clan head, but..." Hinata explained when she thought about her little sister. Hanabi had not been given over to the branch as the tradition stated, so she was free to walk around freely. When Hinata asked her father about it, he told her to stop asking foolish things._

_Naruto looked back at Hinata for a second, reading her face before turning back to the body. "I know how he died," he stated as he activated his mystic palm and placed it on the deceased man's head._

_"How?" Hinata asked looking back at the blond._

_Naruto closed his eyes once he confirmed what he needed, "it was the seal."_

_"The seal?" Hinata asked, "but there weren't any reports about the seal suddenly killing branch members before. Why now?"_

_"Because it wasn't sudden," Naruto stated as he fixed the body the way it was before he came. He covered it with the sheet again and stood up, turning back to face Hinata, "it was used to the point of causing damage to the brain that was irreversible, which caused this man to die. From the looks of it, the seal disrupted the chakra networking running through his brain enough to burst blood vessels and cause a bleed in the drain that couldn't be fixed or even reached. Repeated use of the seal used to that extent caused the result you see here," he gestured to the body, "it looks like the wear and tear of the seal took its toll over ten years. If the seal was removed when, say, five or even seven years earlier, he wouldn't have died like this, however, from what I can see using the mystic palm, his death was caused about a day and a half ago. Someone with the authority to use the seal prolonged his suffering for about half an hour before he finally collapsed. He was brain dead before his body even hit the floor."_ _Hinata gasped, she couldn't believe that was what actually happened. If it was someone that had the authority to use the seal, then that means..."yes, it was someone from the main branch family that did this. I would have to say that the suspect list is limited to everyone in the main branch, but in order to know who it was, I'm going to have to take this body into custody."_

_"Okay," Hinata nodded, "but how are you going to get it out of the compound?"_

_Naruto chuckled, "I said that I'm taking a dead body from your clan into custody and you ask me that? Aren't you going to ask how I can do that?"_

_"Naruto, I already know you're an ANBU, Kurama told me," Hinata stated with a pout._

_Naruto sighed, "haa, he just can't let me have my moment, can he?" He shook his head, "whatever, I'm going to use a special scroll to seal him into. It's made using some of Kyuubi's chakra so a Hyuuga can't look into it too easily." He took out the scroll and started sealing the body into it, he stood up and put the scroll away before taking back Shima's leash. The puppy was well behaved the whole time, she didn't even make a sound when Naruto used Kurama's chakra seal to seal up the body, most animals would at least have a little reaction. Barking, whimpering, something to show some fear for the fox's chakra, but Shima didn't, he was happy and curious about this dog's reaction being nothing and wondered if the other dogs he adopted would be like this. "Alright, let's get-" Naruto was cut off when the sound of someone screaming nearby was heard, the two genins and puppy quickly left the room to see what was happening. Even though Hinata already had a feeling of what they would find, it still made her anxious. What they found was the main branch member standing over Neji who was holding his head in pain while the main branch member stood over him with an evil smirk. Naruto got pissed off at seeing this, he used his speed to catch the main branch member off guard, taking him by the neck and swiftly breaking his arm without thinking. He was much too angry to care about the consequences of his actions. While the main branch member was screaming and holding his arm in pain, Hinata ran over to her cousin who had fainted from the pain, Naruto quickly went over to them and shushed them out of the compound before others appeared. He was a little worried about starting a clan war, but he would deal with that later. Hinata's friends had seen what happened, so he was hoping that they would at least cover for them while they escaped._

**_Naruto's home_ **

_Naruto reappeared in front of his home with Neji and Hinata. "Open the gate," he told her, he had added her and Shino to the system so the seals wouldn't react violently if they showed up at the house unannounced for any reason. Hinata opened the door and Naruto brought Neji into the house. Upon their arrival, Shikamaru Chouji, Kiba, and Haku came over to them wondering what had happened. "I was just at the Hyuuga compound when I found out something," he briefly explained, "Haku, bring me some tea made out of the blue and green flower stems in the second greenhouse in the backyard. Kiba, Chouji, I need you to bring up some hot bucket of hot water, a towel, and a change of clothes for him." Naruto gave orders as he walked over to the stairs, "Shikamaru, bring me my medical bag. Where's Kurama and Inari?" He asked as he started climbing the stairs with Neji still passed out on his back._

_"Kurama's in the backyard with Lilly and Inari is in the library with Hanna," Kiba called out as he followed Naruto up till the second floor._

_"Okay," the blond turned to Hinata, "Hinata, head out to the back to get Kurama and have Inari come to the room with him. You can watch the girls for a while until I call you, I will let you know as soon as he wakes up, okay."_

_"Alright," Hinata nodded and quickly left to do as she was asked._

_Naruto made it to the third floor and found an empty room to place Neji on the bed. He laid him down and channeled chakra into his hand before placing it on Neji's forehead, as he did that, he felt something nudging his leg. When he looked down, he saw Shima looking up at him expectantly, he smiled at the puppies cute face, "are you waiting for orders too?" The little dog barked excitedly and wagged her tail, "alright," he stopped what he was doing and picked her up, "then you can keep him company, okay?" He got an excited bark and he smiled, he placed Shima down on the bed next to Neji and continued what he was doing before. He didn't see any light threatening damage in Neji's brain, he brought his hand down to his body and scanned, he found indications of whippings and burns focused solely in the places that can be hidden away. He removed Neji's clothes just as Shikamaru came in with his medical kit, "thanks," he took the kit and placed it to the side on the nightstand._

_"No problem," Shikamaru looked down at Neji, "what happened?"_

_"From what I can tell, the older main branch members of the Hyuuga's have been abusing the seal they placed on the side branch." Naruto explained as he finished undressing Neji, "I have a feeling that this isn't even the worst of it, just a few days ago, a side branch member was found dead. The elders wouldn't let Hinata or the family of the deceased see the body for some reason, and planned to cremate the body before the ceremony began without any input from the family." He threw Neji's clothes into the laundry hamper to be washed later, "when I took a look, I found the cause and the reason why the no one wanted the body to be seen." He explained everything that happened at the compound to Shikamaru before Chouji, Kiba, Kurama, and Inari came into the room. Once everyone was gathered, he instructed Chouji to give Neji a quick bed bath and have Kiba help dress him afterward. While they were doing that, Naruto started Inari's first medical lesson, showing him how to apply creams to old burn wounds and how to apply bandages, when they were done, Kiba and Chouji dressed Neji in the clothes they picked out. Shikamaru left to make something for Neji to eat when he wakes up, a few minutes later, Haku came in with the tea he asked for in a teapot and a glass of water. Naruto decided to have some of future Neji's future bandages soaked in some of the tea, he showed Inari how to do it and put the rest of the tea, along with the cup of water, on the nightstand. When everything was said and done, they waited for Neji to wake up, they didn't need to wait long though as the boy woke up ten minutes later._

_"Where am I?" Neji asked as he looked around the room, he didn't reconise it at all. Then he saw Naruto, Kurama, Haku, and Kiba. Chouji had taken Inari downstairs to help Shikamaru with the food while Hinata was still entertaining the girls. Neji sat up slowly and looked at everyone, then he noticed how his body didn't hurt anywhere anymore. He looked down and saw the new bandages, as well as the new clothes that clearly wasn't from the Hyuuga's seamstress. He looked back at Naruto, "what am I doing here? How long have I been out?"_

_"A little under an hour," Kurama answered._

_Kiba folded his arms, "don't we even get a 'thank you'? We're the ones that took care of you, we even changed your bandages and bathed you!"_

_"Ki-chan, give him a break, he did just wake up after all," Kurama started with a hand on the Inuzuka's shoulders, "but isn't not wrong either." He turned back to the Hyuuga boy with a sly smirk, "you can repay us later on, t-"_

_"Kurama, if you say anything pervy right now, I promise you're going to get a spanking later," Naruto stated as he walked over to Neji's bedside._

_Kurama giggled, "oooh if that a promise, Naru-kun?"_

_"Aww, no fair!" Kiba complained with a pout directed at Naruto, "me too!"_

_Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "I'll change my mind then," he gave a light glare to the two and they quickly shut up. He sighed, "anyway,_ _are you feeling right now? Anything hurt?" He asked Neji._

_Neji looked the blond, "I'm fine. How did I get here?"_

"I brought you here with Hinata," Naruto explained.

"Why?" Neji asked confused, "the last thing that I remember, is...did you..." Naruto nodded, "why did-"

_"Why did I stop him?" Naruto finished for him, he shrugged his shoulders. "Because he pissed me off. I can't just stand by and watch people get hurt for no reason, especially when they didn't deserve it. And maybe," he placed a gentle hand on Neji's hand, "I think that you would look better if you smiled instead of screaming in pain."_

_Neji didn't know how to respond to that, "thank you, but you didn't need to do that," he stated as he looked away from him._

_"Hn, so you say, but you're gonna pay me," Naruto started getting off the bed._

_Neji's eyes snapped back to him, a glare in his pale lavender eyes, "what?"_

_"That's right," Naruto stated with his back towards him as he stretched. He turned to the nightstand and opened his medical kit, he opened it and took out some sealing paper, an inkpot, and paintbrush. He turned to Neji, "you'll help me, right?"_

_"Why? All you did was find me and bring me home, wha-" Neji stated in an angry tone, but Naruto stopped him before he could say more._

_"Listen, I've gotten quite interested in that little seal on your head that binds the branch members. I wanna see how it works, and the best way to do it is to get it off you and pick it apart," Naruto explained. "But I'm going to need you to cooperate with me for this to work, understand?"_

_Neji calmed down as he thought about Naruto's words, "what are you saying? That you can actually take the Caged Bird Seal off?" He asked, not daring to hope too much._

_"Well, even though it's a seal meant to bind someone, it's still a seal." Naruto put down the inkpot and dipped the brush into it before bringing the brush up to Neji's forehead. "I know how to remove and replace seals of this level, I am hoping to have it off of you so I can study it closer. Now hold still please, this might sting a bit," he started tracing the seal on Neji's forehead before he could say anything else. Neji watched Naruto work. When Naruto finished tracing the seal, he placed the sealing paper of the wet ink and made a hand seal. That's when Neji felt a stinging pain coming from his forehead, it felt just like when the seal was activated, but worse, "Haku, Kurama hold him down," Naruto ordered, Haku held Neji down with Kurama. Neji cried out as the seal on his forehead burned, he tried to get away as the pain spread all over his head, after five minutes, he stopped screaming and Naruto took the paper from his head, the pain Neji felt left with the paper and he fell limp on the bed. By the end, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Inari had returned to the room, but they waited outside the room until the screaming finished._

_"Is it okay to come in now?" Chouji asked peeking through the door._

_Naruto looked at the sealing paper intently, "yeah, we're good here," he sealed the paper into a ziplock bag. He put away everything into his medical kit before handing Kurama the tea to give to Neji. Kurama took the cup and put it to Neji's mouth, the boy turned his head from him, unsure if he would be hurt by the drink as well, "drink it, it will help you more than you know," the blond stated sternly as he finished packing everything away. Neji hesitantly sat up and took the cup, drinking it slowly, Shima, sitting in the corner of the bed, seemingly forgotten, climbed her way into Neji's lamp and sat down looking up at him. It almost looked like she was waiting to make sure he finished the cup, feeling the pressure to drink, Neji made sure to drink everything in the cup, it didn't taste very nice but he forced it down anyway. He was feeling too weak to fight now anyway, once he drained the cup, Naruto took it back and poured another, Neji frowned as he was handed the refilled cup. "Drink," the blond commanded, Neji sighed and drank another cup of the nasty liquid until it was also empty, Naruto poured one more cup for him and placed it on the nightstand. "You'll drink this one after you eat," he motioned for Shikamaru to bring in the food. Shikamaru placed a sizable plate of mashed potatoes, chicken, and greens on a tray with orange juice on Neji's lap, there was also a small bowl of soup with some crackers on the side. Shima left his lap to make room for the tray, she stayed by his side, Naruto could see that she wasn't going to leave any time soon, he would have to remember to come back to give her dinner a little later._

_"Here, it's still hot so be careful." Shikamaru stated before stepping back, "I wasn't sure how hungry you would be when Naruto was done with you." He explained when he saw Neji looking at the bowl of soup._

_"We'll send Hinata in to keep you company," Naruto said picking up his stuff._

_"If you need anything, as Hinata and we'll get it for you," Haku said as he got off the bed with Kurama._

_Naruto left the room with the others as Neji started eating. He found Hinata outside the room waiting with Lilly and Hanna, "Papa, who's that in the room?" Hanna asked after peeking into the room._

_"He's our guest, you can meet him later, okay girls?" Naruto smiled down at them._

_"Okay, Papa!" Hanna said happy and ran off when she saw Inari coming out of the room, Lilly was right behind her. Both were really happy to welcome Inari into the family after Naruto explained that he was adopting him. They were probably more happy that they got to play with a kid their own age that wasn't from the village._

_Naruto told the others to go ahead, he turned to Hinata, "what's on your mind, Hina?"_

_"Naruto..." Hinata looked up at him with a sad look in her eyes,_ _"may I ask a favor?"_

**Flashback end**

Naruto took out the documents with the data he collected from the body, "I compiled some things about the seal on the side branch members. I've made copies for you, Lord Hokage, please take a look at them when you get the chance," he stated as he handed the envelope to Chouji to hand over to the Hokage. 

Minato accepted the documents and looked over them briefly before sending a look over to Hiashi. The Hyuuga head looked a bit pale, more than usual anyway. Minato turned back to Naruto, "thank you Naruto, I will look over them in my office later." He stated as he put all the documents in a seal in his jacket pocket, "alright, I think that's enough excitement for one day, why don't we call this meeting to a close. Naruto, I hear by formally approve your clan submission request and acknowledge you as a new clan head. Any further meetings we have will be between, you, or your representative, that is, until you become of age, and myself as well as the council. If you have any clan related questions, remember to look towards your clan head seniors for guidance, that's all for this meeting, you may leave."

Naruto bowed respectfully, "thank you, Lord Hokage," he turned and walked out of the room followed by his friends.

**To be continued...**


	18. Apologies

"Haa, that meeting is so stressful! I never wanna do anything like that again," Shikamaru whined as they made their way down the stairs to leave the tower. They made their way through the halls in their matching haori's, gaining many looks from the passing shinobis and office staff.

"You could say that again, I'm beat," Kiba sighed. "Did you see the way that my mom was looking at me the whole time during the meeting? I think she's gonna be calling me back home soon so we can talk," he shivered, "I sorta don't wanna go, talking to her is gonna be like talking to an angry bear!"

"You think your mom's bad? Check out my mom sometimes," Shikamaru sighed, "she's going to scream my ear off later. I don't think she's gonna come to the wedding, whenever we have it, that is."

"Oh yeah, when is the wedding gonna be?" Kurama asked, "I wanna start designing everyone's outfit for the big day. Oh, I'm so excited! We have two flowers girls that are gonna look super adorable," Kurama hugged Lilly close before turning to Inari, "and our ring bearer is gonna be sooo handsome too!"

Inari blushed, Hanna, looking at him confused, asked, "what's a wedding?" She looked up at Hinata who was holding her eyes, "what's a wedding, Hina-nee-chan?"

"A wedding is an event where someone that likes someone else gets married to that person," Hinata explained simply. 

"Oh, okay," Hanna turned back to walking, they were almost to the door when she stopped. Hinata looked down at her curiously, she was about to ask the little girl what was wrong, when Hanna turned to Inari and blurted out, "Inari, marry me!"

"What?!" Naruto all but yelled, he looked between Inari and Hanna, not knowing what to say. Was it his fault that his baby girl was already thinking of marrying someone? Maybe, but she was too young! He did it to start a clan! "Hanna, w-why do you wanna marry Inari?" He asked worriedly, the others in the group turned to the little girl to hear her answer, Zabuza looked very amused in that moment, he had never seen Naruto with such a panicked expression before. Kurama, while shocked, also thought that the situation was a little cute, Hinata, Haku, and Chouji also agreed with him. Shikamaru and Kiba were bolding back chuckles as they watched Naruto's worried face, while Neji and Shino were just watching the situation with slightly amused faces.

Hanna looked up to her adoptive father, "but Hina-nee-chan just said that a wedding is where you marry the person you like. I like Inari, we get along really well, better than the other kids too. So I wanna marry since I like him, can I papa?"

"No! Y-you're too young!" Naruto stated sternly with his arms crossed.

"Why not? Please, papa please?" Hanna made her eyes big and watery like a puppy, Inari, for his part in all this, was just standing between the father-daughter pair feeling a little uncomfortable.

"U-um, we can get married later, when we're older, okay Han-chan?" Inari asked sweetly trying to defuse the situation, "dad's gotta get married first, remember? And you're gonna be a flower girl, don't you wanna be a flower girl first?"

Hanna turned to Inari, she did thinking pose as she thought about her choices, "hmmm...I guess so....hmm, okay!" She smiled brightly at the boy, "we'll get married later then. You'll marry me, right, Inari-kun?"

Kurama gasped, "she said _'kun'_!" He whispered/squealed happily as he snapped a rapid amount of pictures.

Inari sweatdropped, "uh, yeah, sure."

"Yay!" Hanna cheered happily as she jumped for joy, she turned to Kurama and gave the peace sign as the older redhead continued to aking pictures.

Naruto sighed, thinking that everything was all over now. Until Lilly wiggled out of Kurama's grasp as he took the one-handed pictures and ran over to Inari. The little two-year-old hugged the boy tightly, "I wanna get married too!"

"Oh, come on!" Naruto whined looking at his youngest daughter with tears in his eyes, "why do my girls all want to grow up so fast and leave me?" He felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around to see Shino standing there.

"You only have yourself to blame, Naruto," the bug user stated bluntly, Neji was standing behind him nodding his head, Naruto's head drooped.

"Oh, I see," Naruto stopped the crying and cleared his throat, "well, anyway. Let's move on from this," he turned to Shino, "I have something for you, Neji and Hinata." He took a storage scroll from his pocket and unsealed three more haori's, all were navy blue with a white fox on the back surrounded in black flames. "Here, you three are now apart of my clan, for Shino and Hinata, that means I'm going to continue your training, and Neji, I'm going to be starting your training. Here, please put these on," he handed each one out with a smile, "we'll be wearing these to represent our clan during events in the village and special occasions, so you don't need to wear them all the time. However, if you want to, then I won't stop you." He turned back to the rest remembering something he wanted to add, "also, if anyone of you wants to still represent your own clan alone with mine, then I can also sew on a patch with your clan's symbol on it whenever you want. Just let me know." 

Hinata put on her haori and smiled at Naruto, it fit perfectly over her jacket, "thank you Naruto. I'm looking forward to continuing training with you."

"Yes, as do I," Shino nodded after putting on his.

Neji looked at the haori for a few moments, not sure if he should really put it on. He looked back to Naruto, he was surprised that the blond wanted to take him in, he even signed Clan Trade papers for Neji to stay him. Naruto was a mystery in his eyes, something to wonder at, but there was no denying it, he was amazing. After he recovered from what Naruto did to him yesterday, he realized that the seal on his forehead was gone. He still couldn't believe it. Why would Naruto do this for him? Just to study the reason, but why? He didn't understand, but then again, now that he was going to be a member of Naruto's clan with Hinata, he was sure to find out sooner or later. With that said, Neji put on the haori, it fit loosely over his new clothes. Since he was going to be living with Naruto now, he wanted to wear clothes of his clan instead, he still had his old clothes, but he preferred Naruto's style a little better. Under the haori he was wearing, he had on black pants that came down to his ankles and hugged his legs, a white shirt with the picture of wings in the back, under that shirt, he wore a black and white striped long sleeve. He had his headband tied around his neck, like Naruto and Hinata, and his forehead was covered by a brown bandana, Naruto didn't want everyone in the village seeing that his seal was gone just yet. Now that the meeting was over and Naruto's clan was official, Naruto had some things to finish setting up before he left for his mission with Kurama and Itachi later today. He wasn't sure how long he would be gone for, but he was sure that the trip to Gaara wouldn't take more than a day, it was the trip to the seven tails that made him wonder a bit. He had no idea who the new seven tails jinchuriki was now and Kurama had no idea either, all they knew was that the seven tails were named Chomei, but that's about it. Naruto wanted to learn all the names and characteristics of all nine tailed beasts, he wanted to get to know them and set them free. He doesn't know how he's going to get to do that, but he wanted to make sure that all the tailed beast were set free, and all of their containers were able to get along with their tailed beast. Even though most of them probably didn't have a choice in the matter like him, he at least wanted to try. Now that all the commotion from before was done with, Naruto looked around his group to see a happy bunch. He wanted to keep those smiles on everyone's faces for as long as he could. 

"Alright, let's get him and rest a bit. We'll celebrate today with a family dinner!" Naruto smiled brightly, Kurama cheered with the girls, and Chouji started listing things they could make as the group started walking out the door. Just as Naruto was leaving, he felt a hand grab him from behind, the grip was strong, stronger than any civilian could manage, he could guess the number of people who would dear touch him like that after such a long time. He narrowed it down to a few people, still too many to list, so he decided to just turn around to see who was being so bold. Surprise, surprise, it was Kushina, his used-to-be mother, he frowned when he saw her, "what?" He asked, he noticed she wasn't alone, her dear friend Mikoto was with her. Just from the sight of those two, he felt like he was reliving his fifth birthday all over again, it made his stomach turn and he wanted nothing more than to throw up. But, he wasn't the same weak kid that he used to be, he wasn't about to let these to manhandle him again as they did in the past. He pulled his shoulder out of Kushina's grip, Kushina gave him a glare when he did that, Naruto could smell a bit of alcohol on her breath and he knew that she wasn't in her right mind now. Not that he thought she was in her right mind before.

"Naruto, how could you?" Kushina asked a sob in her voice made it evident that she was hurt, but by what, it was hard to say. 

"How could I what?" Naruto asked in a bored tone, he wasn't in the mood to play guessing games. He's done a lot until now, so to ask a vague question like that was just asking to waste time. "Be more specific, I don't understand."

Kushina's face looked upset, much more than the last time he saw her, "how could you do this to me?!" She said, her voice getting louder.

Again, Naruto was at a loss for words. "What are you talking about? Do what, what did I do to you?" Naruto asked getting upset himself, he didn't have much time to spend with his friends and family because of ANBU work, missions, and the general secrecy that came with protecting all that he loved and held dear. What could this lady be trying to pin on him right here, in front of the door, with all eyes on the three of them? Kurama and Shikamaru no doubt heard the commotion and was looking back to not find him walking behind them as usual. It would only take another second for the rest of his party to notice that he wasn't walking with them any longer and to look back to see what was going on. Naruto sighed, _"what a messy situation this is gonna be, I need to cut this short so I can go home and rest."_

"Naruto," Mikoto called the blond boy's name. Naruto's eyes snapped over to her, she didn't like the look he was sporting, "Naruto, I believe what your mother is asking it, why did you run away from home and try to become a traitor."

"A what?" Naruto asked in a serious tone, he could already hear the murmurs doing through the slowly gathering crowd. Great, Mikoto was making it seem like him starting his own clan was just him trying to reveal clan secrets. It wasn't unheard of, some people have done it in the past when the village was just starting out. However, Minato and Kushina's clan, wasn't actually a clan, per se. They were only a single family that had clan statues because Minato was the Hokage. They weren't technically a clan, both Kushina and Mikoto knew this, in fact, anyone who had read the rule book would know this little fact as fact. Yet, it seemed like Mikoto was trying her luck. She knows that wrongful labeling will get her and her husband into trouble, Naruto was feeling a little bad for Fugaku since he had seen him only a few seconds ago. Mikoto must have thought that he didn't make it through with the meeting and was trying to make him look bad afterward, or at least, that's the only thing that came to his mind as to why she was saying all this. Being so bold out in public like this, she was trying to make him look bad, to humiliate him. Naruto took a breath and calmed down, _"this is fine, she doesn't know now, but soon she will. They all will. I'm not going to let the name Kitsune be soiled before the grand debut at the end of the year. It's gonna be a day that everyone's going to be watching, people from other countries and hidden villages will be there to watch as I take my place as clan head. But until then, I'm considered to just be in training. Zabuza will be the official stand in clan head and I'll be the real one when I came of age at sixteen, it won't be too long until this village learns its lesson."_ Naruto took in another deep breath and turned his attention back to the two ladies, "Mikoto, what do you think I am? A fool?"

"Excuse me? How can you talk to your elder-" Mikoto started but Naruto continued.

"I already know what you're trying to do. I know, so it won't work," the young blond stated plainly.

"And what is it that I'm trying to do?" Mikoto stated with her arms folded in front of her chest, "prey tell."

Naruto smirked, "slander against another clan's head is grounds for punishment, you know that." Mikoto and Kushina looked at him as if he were crazy, they were about to say something, but he didn't let them, "I am the first clan head of the Kitsune clan, and the founder of it as well. I suggest that you keep any other destructive thoughts you have in your heads, or else you will get into more trouble, I will be willing to overlook this incident this time, however, if it happens in the future, you won't be so lucky." Naruto turned to leave, "ja ne," but his arm was grabbed again, this time by Mikoto. This was an offense, seen as an assault on a clan head by another's wife,

"Wait, he said he's a clan head, what's she doing?" Whispered someone from the crowd as the other clan heads started coming down the stairs after their meeting was finished. The clan heads were looking around the room, trying to figure out why there was a crowd of people blocking their way to the door.

"What's going on here?" Fugaku asked as he walked up to one of the office staff.

The office staff, a woman in her late teens, with black hair and eyes, dressed in the usual chunin uniform turned to him. "Lord Fugaku, sir, sorry for the trouble, but um..." she looked back over to where the commotion started, "i-it seems that Lady Mikoto and Lady Kushina are talking to the new clan head."

"The new clan head?!" Fugaku pushed his way to the front of the crowd so he could get a better look, the chunin girl followed him in case he needed an explanation. When Fugaku made it, he saw his wife talking angrily to Naruto, the boy that just became the young clan head in waiting of the newly formed Kitsune clan. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he remembered telling Mikoto about his meeting with Naruto today the day before as he was venting his frustrations with a drink as usual. He didn't think that she would come all the way down to the tower to see the result of the meeting herself, and Kushina was with her as well. Though he had nothing against her hanging around her friends, he didn't particularly like Mikoto hanging around Kushina nowadays because she started acting weirdly recently. Well, maybe it wasn't as recent as he thought, now that he was thinking about it, he could say that she started acting strangely the day after coming home from Iko's and Naruto's fifth birthday party. He remembered going to the party that night because he was actually free at the time, and his wife wanted him to go with her. But once he was there, he found it a bit odd that Naruto's name wasn't also on the banners. There were no gifts for the boy either, he knew of the hate that was placed on the blond and ignored the face, but this was something that couldn't be ignored. Even though he was hated like he was, that didn't change the fact that Naruto was the Hokage's son, and also, the new clan head of his very own clan. Fugaku didn't know the full story behind that, however, he was sure of one thing, if he didn't stop Mikoto know, Naruto could demand penalties be placed on the Uchiha's for this little incident. Just then a person next to him that didn't notice his presence whispered to something to the person next to them.

"Does she really not know what she was doing? Or was she just foolish? Isn't he the new clan head that we just filed papers for?" The person whispered to their friend.

"Yeah, I can't believe that demon brat actually got his own clan, what was the Hokage thinking?" Replied the other person.

"I know right, but even so, he's a clan head now, and by law too." The first person answered, "if the Uchiha's are planning to start a war of something like this, I can't imagine how many lives might be lost."

The other person nodded, "I mean, this could wipe out the whole Kitsune clan all together which might not be so bad."

"Yeah, but then again, the Uchiha's aren't on good standing still after what happened during the Kyuubi attack. I heard that it was an Uchiha that set the Kyuubi free," stated the first person.

With that, Fugaku couldn't stand still anymore. He made his presence known by stepping out of the crowd and Marching right up to Kushina, Mikoto, and Naruto right as Mikoto raised her hand to hit Naruto. "I'll teach you to respect your elders right-" her words were cut off when she felt the tight grip on her wrist, she was holding Naruto by the collar, making sure that he didn't run away. She was going to deliver a great slap to the side of his face, however, she had was stopped, looking back to see who it was, she was frozen in place, "F-F-Fugaku, what are you doing here?" She asked worriedly, she was afraid that she had just been caught in the act, she was thinking off a way to explain this away when she suddenly noticed the crowd that had gathered around them. When did they all get there, she was doing this with the confidence that one else was going to stop her, as usual, whenever she made confrontations like this. Yet, there was a big crowd, and not only were all the clan heads watching in full view of her actions, but the Hokage was also there too. She had no idea when he showed up, but he didn't look happy, at either her or his wife, then her husband's words brought her back to the present.

"Mikoto, what in the hell are you thinking right now?" Fugaku said in a low voice hid his anger well, he gave her a dark look that sent chills down her spine.

"Fugaku, I was just, I was-" Mikoto couldn't think of anything to say. What was she even doing right now? Getting caught doing something like this would be bad, how could she let this happen? She was too wrapped in herself that she didn't think, now this happened. She let go of Naruto's shirt and turned to her husband, "I-"

"Enough, apologies to Lord Kitsune, now," Fugaku stated firmly.

Mikoto was shocked, "Lord!?"

Kushina was even more shocked, "Kitsune!" She turned her head to her son so fast that that people thought she got whiplash, "how could you use a name like that?! Don't yo-"

"Lady Kushina, I think it would be best if you went home and sober up, don't you?" Naruto stated as he fixed his shirt. He was honestly getting tired of them anyway, he saw the moment that the clan heads came into the area and knew that he was not going to get blamed if he just stood there and said nothing. Everyone knows that the first person to cause an offense to a clan head, no matter their status, new or old, would get punished for it by either their own clan head or the Hokage. Seeing as how these two were married to both, respectively, they would both be punished in some way soon enough, this he was sure of. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I have some business to attend to," Naruto turned to leave again, but Fugaku stopped him, this time, he wasn't grabbed thankfully. Naruto was sure he would have to beat someone's ass if he was grabbed like before one more time.

"Please wait a moment, Lord Kitsune," Fugaku said letting go of Mikotos's hand and stepping in front of her. He bowed to the blond boy, much to everyone's surprise. "Please accept my deepest apologies, and allow me to make up for my wife's faults."

Naruto looked at Fugaku with his hands folded in front of him and covered in his sleeves. He glanced at the crowd from the corner of his eye, seeing their shocked/surprised faces made this seem like he was causing too much of a scene. And it felt like that as well, not just with Fugaku bowing to him like this, but also when Mikoto and Kushina got in his face a minute ago. He couldn't really let this slide, not in front of all these people, and certainly not because of his mildly petty ways. So he thought of something that would seem like a reasonable triad. "Lord Fugaku, please raise your head, I accept your apology, but in return, I require something to show your good faith that this won't happen again."

Fugaku mentally cringed, wondering what the blond boy could possibly ask him for. He lifted his head and nodded, "yes, of course, thank you for accepting. I will do my best to make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future, so please tell me what you require."

Naruto smiled, "I will be sure to let you know. However, seeing as how I have already fallen behind on my schedule, I will be contacting you for a meeting later. As for right now, I will overlook this, farewell," he gave a short bow and finally left the tower behind. As he was leaving, he heard Mikoto trying to tell her husband something but it didn't seem like Fugaku was willing to listen after what she just put him threw. Naruto smirked as he rejoined his friends, today might not have been so bad after all.

Kurama saw him drawing near them, the group was waiting on a bench in front of the tower waiting for Naruto. When Naruto came closer, Kurama stood up, with his heightened hearing, he heard everything that just happened. He looked to Naruto with a serious look, "what are you going to do now?" The others stood up as well, curious looks on their faces.

"There's no need to worry about such things, however, be sure to welcome a new member from the Uchiha's in the new future," was all that Naruto had to say.

**To be continued**


	19. Family time

Naruto made it home sometime after leaving the Hokage tower will his clansmen tow. They walked around the market district so that Naruto could decide on a spot for his new shops and/or restaurants to be built in. After finding a location that he thought was perfect for his shop, he went home and let the others do whatever they wanted. Shikamaru, Kurama, and Chouji all went to prepare dinner since they knew that Naruto would be leaving them alone for a while, they wanted to make it a special meal for him. Kiba and Haku went out to get some dessert for dinner, Zabuza went with them to make sure that none of the civilians tried anything. While Shino, Neji, and Hinata watched over the kids as they played with Akamaru and the other dogs. Naruto went up to his room to rest for a while until it was time to eat. He took a long bath and went to sleep since he was going to need to rest for a while before he and Kurama had to meet with Itachi at the gate. No one bothered him while he rested, although the girls did wish he would play with them a little before sleeping, then again, everyone knew that if Naruto played with them for a little, he wouldn't be able to rest before dinner. When it got dark out, Naruto came down for dinner and everyone had a blast, Haku and Kiba got some of his favorite desserts, while Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kurama cooked some of his favorite foods. When everyone was done eating, Kurama gathered everyone in the living room, he got his camera out and told everyone to gather around Naruto as he set the timer. "This will be the first picture we take as a clan, so I want to make sure that I get everyone while they're still wearing their matching haori's today," Kurama started coming to sit down next to Naruto.

Naruto smiled and looked at the camera, "sounds good to me," he stated. Shikamaru was seated on his right with Lilly seated happily on his lap, standing next to him was Inari, with Haku standing just behind him. On his left sat Kurama with Hanna seated on his lap, Kiba was sitting next to him, and Hinata was sitting on the floor next to the couch with Shino standing behind her. Akamaru and the newly adopted puppies were sat in front of the cough, Naruto wanted to have Dante apart of the picture as well so he summoned him ahead of time and told him to shrink down to a smaller size. Right now, the wolf summons was sitting on the floor a little to Naruto's left between him and Kurama. Zabuza and Neji stood just behind Naruto behind the couch. Naruto was feeling kind of happy about taking a picture with the members of his new clan, not just because this marked the beginning of the Kitsune clan, but because this was the first family picture he can remember taking since he was old enough to remember. Back before Minato had thrown his away because of his prank, he couldn't remember seeing any pictures of himself in the Uzumaki Namikaza household that wasn't just him lurking in the background behind everyone else. The camera flashed after the timer was done and Kurama went to take a look, smiling at the result.

"I'll make sure to print and blow this up so we can have it hanging in the hallway," Kurama said coming back to the couch. He turned the camera so that everyone could see, "if anyone would like to have a copy to put in their wallet or a locket, please let me know ahead of time. The picture will be printed later on tonight."

"Yeah, you can print one out for me before I leave, Kurama?" Naruto asked as he looked at the picture fondly.

"Are you going on your mission tonight...dad?" Inari asked turning to look up at Naruto, he was still getting used to calling Naruto by that name, but he didn't mind calling him as such. He liked having a dad, and Naruto has already taught him a lot about being a ninja.

Naruto nodded, "yep," he patted Inari on the head. "And when I come back, we're really gonna start your ninja training, no more learning from just books. So make sure you prepare yourself, okay son?"

Inari smiled, "okay!"

Hanna felt a little jealous that Inari was getting training from Naruto, which meant he wouldn't spend as much time with her. She turned to Naruto, "I wanna do training too, papa!"

Naruto paused his actions to turn to his daughter, he didn't think that she would want to do ninja training. He always expected her to be his sweet little girl forever, but now that he's heard her say that. His eyes watered as he picked up Hanna and pulled her into a big hug, "no, you can't I want you to stay like this forever!" He exclaimed as he rubbed his cheek against hers, "please stay like this forever, don't ever grow up, okay?"

"Aww, but papa! I have to grow up one day!" Hanna said hugging him back just as tightly as he hugged her.

Naruto nodded sadly as a tear formed in his eye, "yes, yes, I know, honey, just stay like this a little longer okay? For me, please?"

Hanna pouted a little but smiled, "okay, papa, I'll stay like this a little while." She pulled back a little to look Naruto in the eye, "I promise! love you, papa!" 

Naruto let out a sad cry as he pulled his daughter into an even tighter hug, "I love you too, honey!"

Zabuza sweatdropped as he watched the blond, "oi, is this really the terrifying Fox that I've heard so much about over the years? Or am I just dreaming?"

Neji turned to the elder ninja, "what do you mean by 'heard over the years'?" He asked, "is Naruto famous where you're from?"

"Eh...well, you could say that," Zabuza stated, not knowing is he should tell the others about Naruto's ANBU statues, not when he didn't know how much they knew about his secret life.

Naruto wiped away his tears, "oh, I really wish I didn't have to go, but I have work to do now." The blond got up from his spot and stretched, he stepped away from the couched and turned back to face everyone after putting Hanna down on the ground. Lilly was starting to get sleepy because of the late hours, so she wasn't causing as many commotions as Hanna was, he was a little thankful for that. However, he was also a little sad because she would probably forget that he was leaving tonight by the time she woke up in the morning. "Well then, everyone, I'm going to get going now, you all know what to do while I'm gone right?" Everyone nodded, he smiled and looked down at Hanna and Lilly, "I'm hoping that I make it back to enroll you into school, Inari, but just in case I'm not, I'll let Uncle Zabuza take care of that. Hanna, help him out while you guys are there, okay?"

Hanna nodded and held Inari's hand, "you got it pap! I'll take care of Inari-nii!"

Inari smiled at the red-haired girl, "thanks a lot, Han-chan," Hanna smiled brightly at him after hearing that, and Kurama took their picture.

"Another picture for the album," Kurama smiled happily.

Naruto chuckled, he turned to Neji, Haku, Hinata, and Shino next. "I know that you guys haven't been living here long, but I hope you all can get along well while I'm gone, feel free to ask for anything you need. Please feel free to call this place your home as well, alright?"

Hinata smiled up at Naruto as she petted Shima, "thank you again, Naruto, we'll do I'll do my best," she stated cheerfully.

"As well, I, Naruto," Shino stated in his usual monotone voice. Neji and Haku both nodded in agreement, Zabuza scratched the back of his neck, feeling a little awkward with how sappy everything was feeling. Naruto supposed that a hardened ninja like him wouldn't be used to something like this right away.

"Naruto," the said ninja turned his attention to the Nara holding the sleeping toddler in his arms. Shikamaru stood up carefully with Lilly resting on his shoulder, "I don't know how long you're gonna be gone for, but please try to make it back before one of us gives birth, okay? Wouldn't want to miss the birth of your new sons and daughters would you?" He gave the blond a sly smiled and a wink, Kiba chuckled with a hand placed over his stomach.

"Yeah, hurry back, we're going to miss you too much if you're away too long," the Inuzuka gave the clan head a bright smile. His partner barked from his spot on the floor, Naruto could only guess that he was telling him to hurry back as well.

This moment, in Naruto's mind, was filled with so much warmth. It was almost too hard to believe how cold he actually felt before, nodding his head, Naruto agreed. "Right, then I'll try to make things quickly as I can," he started heading out of the room, "you guys rest well, Kurama, come on, we have to get ready soon."

"Right," Kurama nodded as he put the camera strap around his neck. He turned to the others, "we'll see you guys soon," he waved as he followed the blond out of the room."

* * *

**One hour later**

Naruto and Kurama went up to their rooms and quickly changed into their ANBU gear. Naruto put on his captain's mask and Kurama put on his old mask. The two checked their supplies and weapons to make sure they had enough of what they needed to last them through three missions of unknown lengths of time. Naruto was sure that the first two missions involving the jinchuriki wouldn't take more than a few days, he was really looking forward to meeting with Gaara and Shukaku again. While he wasn't sure about the container for Chomei, he was sure that both of them wanted to be free of their cursed existence and just find peace within their own lives. Knowing this much, Naruto prepared more Tailed Sealer Seals to use on Chomei, and just in case, any other tailed beast that might come their way. He couldn't tell what or who he would be bringing back with him when the time came. But if he runs into another situation like he did when he met Hanna, he would take full responsibility for it and take care of those who need his help. As for the third mission, he would have to get help from the information network that he managed to grow over the years. He could tell that he was going to need them when it came to this Akasuki group, they sounded like interesting individuals to him and he wanted to meet them at some point. For now, however, he would take care of what needed to be done. There was also one other thing that was bothering him, recently he had been getting multiple updates about strange people that suddenly appeared in the Elemental Nations over the past five years. First, there were three guys that showed up in the Grass Country, near the land of Rice Paddies, they have since fallen off the map some at least a year after their arrival. Next, some kid sporting bright orange hair showed up somewhere near Cloud Country and Eddies. A precise location wasn't determined during the report, but a few months after a few more seemed to have arrived in or around the same area. Lastly, there was another person that was reported to have shown up near Takki or the Hidden Waterfall village where Chomei's container was said to be located. Naruto was very curious about meeting these people, he wanted to know where they came from, how they got here, and why they came. He wasn't too concerned about them in the past because they didn't show up in the Leaf, still, he wanted to know about them. He has no idea if any of these people are related to each other, but he knows that sooner or later, he's gonna cross paths with them somehow. 

For the moment, he had his information network keeping an eye on them to see if they can gather any info on any of them. The first few that arrived in the Land of Rice Paddies seems to have completely disappeared from his radar. Or at least they were flying low enough for his network to just miss them. Either way, he couldn't find out anything about them, but there were the others that were mentioned. The most recent arrival was the one that happened two years ago near Takki, this seemed like a good chance for him to get some information on this person while he looked for the host of the seven tails. "Right, I should we should head over to Takki first before making our way over to Suna, it might be a bit longer to travel, but I want to find Chomei first to set them free," Naruto stated as he pulled on his gloves.

Kurama nodded his head at the doorway, "and you wanna see if you can meet with that person in the reports, right?" 

Naruto turned to face the redhead, a smirk appeared on his face behind his mask. "Maybe, who knows?" He finished preparing himself and walked out the room, Kurama followed behind him as they headed to the fourth floor. He entered the greenhouse with Kurama behind him and collected some of the different herbs they harvested a few weeks ago, "we'll need some of this just in case. I don't know if there's gonna be a battle of epic proportions while we're out, but I can't have you getting sick on me during the missions, Kurama," he turned to the redhead. "Are you still throwing up a lot in the evenings and mornings?"

"Yeah, it's a real pain in the ass," Kurama shrugged, "but I guess that's what I get for agreeing to bring your kid into this world." He smirked at the blond, "so you better make sure that this kid has a father to be raised by, or else I'll make you regret it."

Naruto chuckled, "what makes you think that I'll leave any of my kids alone before I'm a wrinkling, dried-up old man?"

Kurama smirked turned into a warm smile then, "either way, just don't make this fox a widow, okay, kit?" He placed a hand on his lower back and yawned, lately his lower back and his hips started to ack, making him wonder about his changing body. He should probably think about staying home from these types of missions in the coming months. He was sure to give birth to a litter of kits soon, "by the way, Naruto, did I tell you that your dojutsu has the possibility of increasing the birthrate of its user?"

Maruto walked over to Kurama, "huh? No, you never told me that..." he quickly put two and to together. He had a feeling of what Kurama was telling him, he looked down at the redhead's midsection grimly, it had only just now started to show signs of the fox's pregnancy. He could tell that Kurama's body had already started to change a lot over the past two months and some weeks. Kurama's hips had gotten much wider than before, giving him a slight appearance of an hourglass, and his skin looked much smoother, and the fox's ass had surely taken on some size. However, is Kurama was really telling him that he could become a father of more than just one child per mate, then that means, "Kurama...h-how many kids do fox's usually give birth to?"

"Around two to twelve, usually," Kurama gave him a fox-like smiled. He giggled when he saw some of the colors drain from Naruto's form, he looked like a ghost, even with his mask on. "Don't worry though, I'm sure that it won't be that much...maybe."

"Maybe!?" Naruto looked back up to Kurama's golden eyes, "you're kidding, right? If you had told me that, then I probably would have waited to get Kiba and Shikamaru pregnant!"

"Oh yeah, hehe, I should but I guess I was having too much fun that I forgot?" Kurama raised his arms and shrugged his shoulders.

"Forgot!" Naruto all but shouted, "how could you forget a thing like that!?"

Kurma shrugged again, "I donno, I guess I wasn't paying attention with all the fucking we've been doing! It's not my fault that you wanted to fill me up so much," he winked at the blond, while the young captain seemed to turn into a puddle of despair. "Anyway, what's done is done, let's hurry and meet Itachi before he starts wondering where we are!" 

Kurama had already taken off in the direction of the gate why the time Naruto looked up. Naruto sighed, "well, at least the clan's gonna grow fast, I guess." He sighed once more before taking off after Kurama.

* * *

**The gate**

When they got to the gate, Itachi was already waiting there for them in his full ANBU gear. He saw them approach and waved to them, "you guys ready?" He asked as he looked at the two young ANBU's.

"Of course, we're got a long time to go before we make it back here again," Kit stated.

"Did you have enough time to say goodbye to your family?" Fox asked as he walked closer to the entrance. 

Weasel nodded, "yes, but my father seemed to be a bit worried before I left. He said it had something to do with Naruto Uz-I mean Kitsune since he has a new clan now. I heard what happened at the tower earlier, I have a feeling that my father is thinking about sending someone from our clan to marry Naruto."

"Is that right?" Kit looked from Weasel to Fox, "I think I heard something about what happened earlier today as well. How about you, Fox? If you where that kid, what would you think?"

Fox shrugged his shoulders and let out a short laugh. "I guess I would think that kid is living the dream, he'll finally have a family that loves and cherishes him the way he always wanted. Not all of us have that kind of thing, so he should hold onto it tightly and never let it or," he turned back to his two teammates for the mission. "If I were in his shoes, I would never let anyone take me down and I would never back down, I would do everything I can to protect those in my care and depend on me. And I'll do the same for my teammates as long as you're loyal to me, understood."

Kit smirked under his mask, he always found Naruto's acting to be good, "you got it, sir."

Weasel nodded, "yes, understood."

Fox nodded his head as well, "good, now let's get going, we've got a long journey ahead of us."

"Sir!" The ANBU team turned to the gate and took off into the night together, traveling in silence the whole way.

**To be continued after Christmas on the 25 of Dec 2019. Happy Holidays!**


	20. Fuu

**One Week Later**

It has been roughly two weeks since Naruto, Kurama, and Itachi had left the village. Naruto was sure that they would have run into something exciting by now, but after visiting Suna and playing around with Gaara for a little while, he found the rest of the trip to be boring. He sighed tiredly, "what's the matter, Naru?" Gaara asked innocently.

Naruto shook his head, "nothing, Gaa-chan, I'm just a little bored."

"Bored?" Gaara asked confused, was Naruto really not having fun playing with him? He looked back at the toys in his room, he would admit that he was getting a little old for them now that he was a ninja. He pouted as he turned back to Naruto, "so, what do you wanna do?"

"Me?" Naruto asked as he got a thoughtful look on his face, he looked back at the window where Itachi was sitting reading his book. Kurama and Shukaku were both taking a nap on the bed peacefully. Naruto remembered back to when they came to the sand village a week ago.

**Flashback**

_Naruto decided to walk right in through the front Gate knowing full well that Gaara had gotten his letter by now. Their letter chain had yet to stop since the last time they saw each other, so it was no doubt in his mind that Gaara had read his letter with excitement. When they arrived, Gaara was already waiting for them at the front gate, the guards were about to stop Naruto's party right then and there, that is until Gaara ran right up to Naruto and gave him a bear hug. Shukaku followed suit with Kurama and poor Itachi was left standing next to them in confusion. Naruto then took the liberty in introducing Itachi to Gaara formally before Gaara decided to lead everyone into the village and headed straight to his room. On the way there, Shukaku and Kurama talked about past and present events, Shukaku also asked about how whole 'mating your container' thing was going. Kurama replied that he was happy, happy enough to tell Shukaku every detail of his sex life back in the village in great detail. Something that Naruto felt somewhat embarrassed about since Gaara was able to hear what Kurama was saying clearly. Itachi just pretended he could hear what the two human tailed beasts were saying at the moment. He felt that his sanity would stay intact longer if he did._

_Once they arrived back at Gaara's home, they went inside and Gaara started preparing the tea he had started to make just before heading to the gate. Hey, Panda-chan, this isn't the place you were living in the first time I came here." Naruto looked back at Gaara, "what happened to the other place?"_

_"Oh, that place?" Gaara came over to the table with the tea and cookies he had made, placing them at the center of the table for everyone. "I no longer wanted to live there, so I requested to move out into my own place once I became a ninja. Shukaku would move in with me since he was my new guardian. There's a training area in the back that we can use so we won't get bothered with staying out so late like we used to." Gaara poured the tea for Naruto and Itachi, he got extra sugar for Kurama for his cravings, and Shukaku poured his own cup of tea._

_Naruto nodded, "sounds reasonable."_

_"Um, excuse, if you don't mind, I would like to know how the two of you know each other?" Itachi asked, from his point of view, they were not following protocol. They were told to watch the Suna jinchuriki for about two weeks to a month to make sure that he was still stable to come to the chunin exams since it was taking place in Konohagakure this time. However, instead of simply just watching the jinturiki, they were having tea with him. It was obvious that none of this made much sense to the Uchiha._

_"Oh, well, you see, Itachi, Gaara is technically no longer the jinchuriki of Suna," Kurama stated. Itachi was further confused, Kurama placed a hand on Shukaku's shoulder, "this is Shukaku, the wind spirit. Also known as the Ichibi."_

_Itachi took a second to process this and realized that he was in the presence of the one-tails. And if this Shukaku was the one-tail, then that meant that..." you're the nine-tails, aren't you?" He asked looking at Kurama._

_The fox grinned, "yep."_

_Itachi nodded, "well then," he turned to Naruto, "it does seem like you are always bringing the surprises, aren't you?"_

_"Always," Naruto gave him a foxy grin._

**Flashback end**


End file.
